Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07), FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $219.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.39 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 24.01%. Iridium Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Iridium Communications’ conference call:

• Iridium’s new Iridium 9604 tri?mode module is on track for commercial availability in June and is in beta with partners; the small, lower?cost integration of satellite, cellular and GPS is expected to accelerate IoT subscriber growth and simplify legacy hardware integration.
• The company will roll out its PNT ASIC in July, has received interest from over 100 firms, and continues to target at least $100 million of annual PNT revenue by 2030 as ASIC availability accelerates deployments.
• Iridium NTN Direct is moving toward commercial launch later this year with live over?the?air demos and seven mobile network operator agreements to date, positioning Iridium as a standards?based complement for D2D and IoT roaming use cases.
• Management reaffirmed full?year guidance (service revenue and operational OIBDA) and highlighted strong cash generation: pro forma free cash flow ~ $318M for 2026, net leverage of 3.4x OIBDA and capacity to invest in growth or M&A.
• Q1 OIBDA fell 5% (a $4.2M quarterly hit) largely from a policy shift to pay annual incentive compensation fully in cash (projected $17M OIBDA impact in 2026), while commercial broadband revenue declined ~5% as customers migrate to lower?cost backup plans.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 4.3%

NASDAQ:IRDM traded down $1.74 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.19. 910,066 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,361,724. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.00. Iridium Communications has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $44.36. The company has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.81, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.48.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 56.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 3,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $117,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,764 shares in the company, valued at $1,480,684. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $82,759,000 after purchasing an additional 725,856 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208,857 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,323,170 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,377,000 after purchasing an additional 408,903 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 651.1% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 2,309,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 226.3% during the third quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,485 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IRDM shares. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.60.

Iridium Communications News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Iridium Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company reiterated its full?year 2026 outlook, signaling management confidence in the underlying business and supporting medium?term guidance. Iridium Announces First Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Top-line was essentially in line (reported revenue $219.06M vs. ~$218.4M estimate), showing modest year?over?year revenue growth (?2%), which limits the damage from the EPS miss. MarketBeat Q1 Summary & Call
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains mixed but stable — Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating, leaving formal guidance from sell?side participants unchanged for now. Benzinga Note on Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call transcripts and detailed commentaries are available (Seeking Alpha, InsiderMonkey), so investors can scrutinize management commentary on subscriber trends, ARPU, and satellite/IoT backlog for future clues. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Reported EPS of $0.20 missed estimates by $0.07 and declined from $0.27 a year ago; investors often punish earnings misses even when revenue is steady, which explains selling pressure. Zacks: Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Media coverage highlighted the earnings miss and a near?term pullback despite a broader 2026 rally, amplifying selling; trading was briefly halted due to an LULD pause, indicating intraday volatility. MSN: Stock Falls on Earnings Miss

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.