DISH Network has had an interesting year so far. The company has been involved in a multitude of carrier disputes, even forcing HBO into it’s first blackout in the companies history. All of that, and DISH found itself on the positive end of a U.S. Department of Justice decision to help the T-Mobile and Sprint merger go through. As a result, DISH has positioned itself to become one of the top four major wireless carriers in the United States in the near future.
Unfortunately, that wireless deal is still held up in the U.S. legal system, which means DISH needs to find a way to stay profitable long enough to get its new services up and running. Lucky for them, SlingTV is here to save the day.
According to recent financial reports, DISH pulled in about $3.17 billion in revenue during the first quarter of the year. That’s down from the $3.4 billion in revenue the company pulled in during that time last year, but higher than Wall Street’s projections.
The satellite company also reported 214,000 new SlingTV subscribers during the first quarter of the year. During that same time period DISH lost roughly 66,000 satellite subscribers, which puts them at about 148,000 net subscriber growth for the beginning of the year.
The higher-than-forecast revenue, and net subscriber growth was enough good news for investors to consider DISH as a viable stock. As a result, DISH saw their stock trading higher than usual over the last week.
The satellite-services company also announced that Sling plans to raise $1 billion in a rights offering. Barrons explains that “Holders of class A and Class B shares and outstanding Dish convertible notes will get the right to buy Dish class A shares at $33.52 a share.”
DISH CEO Charlie Ergen has made it clear that he will purchase any Class A shares not subscribed for in the offering himself.
The future of DISH Network is still unclear, but it does appear to be trending up. No one can predict where the company will be in a year, but continued growth and a solid plan to pivot into the wireless space have plenty of investors intrigued.
Sources:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/dish-stock-earnings-subscriber-gains-sling-tv-51573140836
