Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $1.54 EPS

Telesat (NASDAQ:TSAT) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported ($2.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.67) by ($1.54), Zacks reports. Telesat had a negative return on equity of 3.82% and a negative net margin of 47.57%.The company had revenue of $62.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.03 million.

Here are the key takeaways from Telesat’s conference call:

• Telesat reports continued progress on the LightSpeed program — satellite development, user terminals, and ground-station deployment are moving ahead and the company expects to begin full global commercial service around the end of Q1 2028.
• Telesat is negotiating contractual arrangements with the Government of Canada for the ESCAPE program (military Ka?band in the Arctic); management says the deal could be material and will update financial projections if and when arrangements are finalized, but there is no assurance yet.
• The GEO segment saw a year?over?year revenue decline (Q1 GEO revenue of CAD 86 million, down ~26%) and adjusted EBITDA fell to CAD 55 million (down ~37%), contributing to a consolidated net loss of CAD 151 million driven largely by non?cash goodwill impairments and lower GEO EBITDA.
• Telesat invested CAD 170 million in LightSpeed in Q1 and expects full?year LightSpeed investment of CAD 1.0–1.2 billion; management says ~CAD 300 million in LEO cash plus CAD 1.72 billion available financing and $325 million in vendor financing should be sufficient to fund the project to commercial service, with a LightSpeed backlog of about CAD 1.1 billion (pre?Northwestel).

Telesat Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of TSAT opened at $49.12 on Thursday. Telesat has a twelve month low of $14.77 and a twelve month high of $55.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $729.14 million, a P/E ratio of -5.45 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.03.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telesat

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Telesat by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Telesat by 1,335.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 3,552 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Telesat by 63.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 6,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 2,473 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Telesat in the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Telesat in the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TSAT. Zacks Research raised Telesat from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Telesat from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Telesat in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Telesat from $19.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Telesat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Telesat Company Profile

Telesat is a leading global satellite operator that designs, builds and delivers high-performance satellite communications solutions across multiple markets. The company operates a fleet of geostationary satellites to provide video distribution, data networking and managed broadband services to media companies, network operators, governments and enterprise customers. Telesat’s infrastructure supports television distribution, cellular backhaul, rural broadband and corporate network applications.

In addition to its geostationary offerings, Telesat is developing a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation known as Lightspeed.