[02-08-12] ViaSat<\/b> grew its 2012 third quarter bookings, revenue and backlog compared to the same period last year, but increased expenses and legal costs associated with the delay of its ViaSat-1 launch offset the gains and caused its quarterly earnings to slip, ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg announced Feb. 7 during the company\u2019s latest financial report.<\/p>\n
ViaSat\u2019s third quarter revenues grew 4.6 percent from the previous third quarter to $204.6 million but were 8.8 percent below analysts\u2019 consensus of $225 million, reflecting weaker-than-expected results in its government and commercial networks segments. The satellite communications company earned $11.6 million for the quarter, excluding certain charges. ViaSat earned $18.6 million in the third quarter of last year.
\n Dankberg acknowledged ViaSat\u2019s 1.1 percent EBITDA decline to $36.9 million as a consequence of the delay that pushed back the launch of its ViaSat-1 satellite from the middle of 2011 to October of that year. Despite the loss, Dankberg added that the company is optimistic about the ability of its prize new spacecraft to recover lost ground.
\n \u201cWith the successful launch of the groundbreaking ViaSat-1 satellite in October and the subsequent introduction of our new high-speed Exede broadband service early in 2012, we can really grow our broadband subscriber base for the first time since the WildBlue acquisition two years ago,\u201d said Dankberg.
\n In a statement to Satellite TODAY Insider<\/i>, Raymond James<\/b> Analyst Chris Quilty said that while he also remains optimistic about ViaSat-1\u2019s potential in service growth, economic factors in the market may create a more difficult and competitive environment for ViaSat.
\n \u201cWhile we like the prospects for ViaSat\u2019s consumer broadband business, we still believe its valuation is too rich due to headwinds in the government sector, estimates that are still too high, and the uncertainty surrounding the company\u2019s wholesale\/retail distribution model,\u201d Quilty said in a statement to Satellite TODAY Insider.
\n Quilty noted that ViaSat\u2019s government revenues declined 3 percent year-over-year due to ongoing U.S. budget delays. \u201cManagement lowered its outlook to flattish full-year growth from a prior outlook of 10 percent growth,\u201d he said. \u201cOn a positive note, the order book was solid and ViaSat\u2019s mobile broadband services are growing rapidly, accounting for 20 percent of revenues in third quarter \u2013 a 4 percent increase from last year.\u201d
\n Dish Network<\/b> is now signing up customers for ViaSat\u2019s Exede service, but the pay-TV operator\u2019s management recently conceded that the company would likely shift its focus to EchoStar subsidiary Hughes once its Jupiter satellite is placed in service later this year. Dish\u2019s competitor DirecTV<\/b> also is phasing out its WildBlue service and has not yet signed a new contract for Exede service. \u201cAs a result, ViaSat may be forced to rely more heavily on its direct sales efforts, which could translate into a slower subscriber growth rate and higher SG&A spending,\u201d said Quilty.
\n Dankberg forecasts ViaSat-1 to reach 25,000 to 30,000 gross add-on subscriptions by its second fiscal quarter of 2013. Analysts project a net loss of 60,000 WildBlue subscriptions for the 2013 full year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[02-08-12] ViaSat grew its 2012 third quarter bookings, revenue and backlog compared to the same period last year, but increased expenses and legal costs associated with the delay of its ViaSat-1 launch offset the gains and caused its quarterly earnings to slip, ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg announced Feb. 7 during the company\u2019s latest financial report. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}