Horrid Q3 earnings report could hasten a bankruptcy filing from Dish says analyst،
According to
Bloomberg, Dish Network shares hit a 25-year low today after releasing a terrible third-quarter earnings report. The company, whose Dish Wireless unit was selected to be the nation’s “fourth facilities-based network competitor” to replace Sprint, lost 26 cents per share in the three months ended in late September. That was far worse than the 6 cents per share loss that Wall Street analysts had expected.
Analysts at securities firm MoffettNathanson LLC told clients that the third-quarter earnings report was bad and added that “the overwhelming likelihood here has always been that Dish will go bankrupt within the next few years.” today are probably accelerating this phenomenon. Revenue, at $3.7 billion for the quarter, also missed analysts’ expectations of $3.8 billion. Dish shares closed Monday at $3.44, down $2.05 or 37.43%. The 52-
week high is $17.49.
Some of the red ink illustrates the challenges Dish faces as it seeks to compete in the wireless industry. John Butler, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the poor results show how difficult it is to compete with industry heavyweights such as Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Butler noted that the upcoming merger with EchoStar could give Dish the financial wherewithal to complete the standalone 5G network it’s building, but won’t help it meet the challenges it faces from other majors. operators. And with Dish having $20 billion in debt, Dish doesn’t have much room to make mistakes in the wireless space.
Dish lost 225,000 retail wireless customers during the quarter. Wall Street expected a loss of just 46,000
During the third quarter, Dish lost 225,000 retail wireless customers. Wall Street was expecting a much smaller loss of 46,000. Dish Wireless now has 7.5 million subscribers, meaning it has lost 1.8 million customers since it began offering wireless services.
While the EchoStar merger is expected to be finalized by the end of the year, Dish also raised cash by selling the rights to some spectrum in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America Ltd. The latter also purchased 120,000 prepaid customers in these islands. Dish markets in exchange for cash and international roaming credits.
Last month, Dish paid T-Mobile $100 million to extend Dish’s option to buy the license to 13.5 MHz of the 800 MHz low-band spectrum for $3.59 billion. The option initially expired on April 1, but was extended for a few months. Now that Dish has paid TMobile Dish has until April 1, 2024 to exercise the option and make final payment to T-Mobile.
