Here's What Key Metrics Tell Us About Iridium (IRDM) Q3 Earnings

Core Insights - Iridium Communications reported revenue of $212.77 million for Q3 2024, reflecting a 7.7% increase year-over-year and a surprise of +3.45% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $205.68 million [1] - Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter was $0.21, compared to -$0.01 in the same quarter last year, resulting in an EPS surprise of +5.00% against the consensus estimate of $0.20 [1] Revenue Performance - Total revenue from subscriber equipment was $22.17 million, slightly below the estimated $22.54 million, but showing an 8.6% increase year-over-year [1] - Service revenue reached $159.86 million, exceeding the average estimate of $157.10 million, with a year-over-year growth of 5.2% [1] - Engineering and support service revenue was $30.75 million, surpassing the estimate of $25.96 million, marking a significant year-over-year increase of 21.9% [1] Subscriber Metrics - Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for commercial voice and data was $46, slightly below the estimate of $46.31 [1] - ARPU for commercial IoT data was $7.79, exceeding the estimate of $7.56 [1] - ARPU for commercial broadband was $309, significantly higher than the estimated $280.57 [1] - Total net billable subscriber additions were 69 thousand, below the average estimate of 99.82 thousand [1] Service Revenue Breakdown - Commercial service revenue was $133.31 million, above the estimate of $130.46 million, with a year-over-year increase of 6.3% [1] - Government service revenue was $26.55 million, slightly above the estimate of $26.51 million, reflecting a minimal year-over-year change of 0.2% [1] - Hosted payload and other data service revenue was $16.37 million, exceeding the estimate of $14.67 million, with a year-over-year growth of 9% [1] Stock Performance - Iridium's shares have returned +10.1% over the past month, outperforming the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +3.8% change [1] - The stock currently holds a Zacks Rank 4 (Sell), indicating potential underperformance relative to the broader market in the near term [1]