DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) yesterday reported revenue totaling $4.45 billion for the quarter ending September 30, 2021, compared to $4.53 billion for the corresponding period in 2020. Net income attributable to DISH Network totaled $557 million for the third quarter 2021, compared to $505 million from the year-ago quarter.
Diluted earnings per share were $0.88 for the third quarter, compared to $0.86 per share during the same period of 2020.
According to analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson, DISH’s struggles are showing how costly it will be to build a network. “Consider that DISH’s long-term tower lease obligations now total more than $13.6B,” Moffet said. “For a network that is supposedly only going to cost $10B to build – and, yes, they haven’t even started really ‘building’ yet – they are already $14B underwater. And that doesn’t count the $62M of EBITDA losses on the segment this quarter… and whatever they might have spent on the ongoing 3.45 GHz auction.” Moffett said they will continue to rate DISH as Neutral with a target price of $40.
Jonathan Chaplin of New Street Research said for the first time, he can say, based on actual data from the broader ecosystem, that capital is getting deployed, and the network is getting built.
“We think it would be unwise to bet against there being a new nationwide 5G network in a few years,” Chaplin said. “The investors that assume DISH will have no impact on wireless industry dynamics must now be betting that DISH won’t be able to monetize their network; not that they won’t build it.”
DISH Network’s 2021 revenue through the third quarter totaled $13.43 billion, compared to $10.94 billion in revenue from the same period last year. In the first nine months of 2021, net income attributable to DISH Network totaled $1.86 billion, compared with $1.03 billion during the same period last year.
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