Iridium Communications Inc. (IRDM)
Communication Services · NMS · US
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Iridium Communications Inc. trades at USD46.61, which is 58% above the USD19.47 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure it screens as expensive, which is not the same as saying it will fall.
Our moat model scores it 55 out of 100, which is a moat, but not a deep one. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 49.2 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About Iridium Communications Inc.
Iridium Communications Inc. provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company offers mobile satellite communications services for land mobile end users and aviation sectors; broadband terminals, embedded devices, and handsets for merchant shipping, fishing, leisure and research vessels, and specialized watercraft; satellite-based IoT services; hosted payload and other data services; and other data services and engineering services. It also provides postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; Internet of Things (IoT); and satellite time and location services. In addition, the company offers personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; and mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets; and maintenance services for the U.S. government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; and various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, and charging units. The company sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that includes service providers, and value-added resellers and value-added manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
Smart money ownership
14 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Joel Greenblatt, Gotham Asset Management, LLC$93.04M · 0.3% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$80.94M · 0.0% of book
- Cathie Wood, ARK Investment Management LLC$47.90M · 0.4% of book
- Arrowstreet Capital, ARROWSTREET CAPITAL, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP$30.55M · 0.0% of book
- Select Equity Group, Select Equity Group, L.P.$26.15M · 0.1% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is Iridium Communications Inc. (IRDM) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of USD19.47, IRDM at USD46.61 is 58% above fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
Which funds own IRDM?
14 of the institutions we track reported a position in IRDM in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is IRDM's P/E ratio?
IRDM trades at 49.2 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
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Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.