William Blair Has Pessimistic View of Viasat FY2027 Earnings

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) – Equities researchers at William Blair dropped their FY2027 earnings estimates for Viasat in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 18th. William Blair analyst L. Dipalma now anticipates that the communications equipment provider will post earnings per share of $0.16 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $0.35. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Viasat’s current full-year earnings is ($0.54) per share.

Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, November 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.20. Viasat had a negative return on equity of 6.37% and a negative net margin of 13.11%.The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Viasat from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Viasat in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Viasat from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Viasat from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viasat in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viasat presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.75.

Viasat Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Viasat stock opened at $30.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.57 and a beta of 1.24. Viasat has a 1 year low of $7.36 and a 1 year high of $43.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $34.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.51.

Insider Activity

In other Viasat news, Director Richard A. Baldridge sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $3,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 197,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,111,991. This trade represents a 33.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Benjamin Edward Palmer sold 2,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.06, for a total transaction of $100,246.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,831 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,585.86. The trade was a 9.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 105,049 shares of company stock valued at $3,281,046 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viasat

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Viasat by 6,815.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Viasat during the third quarter worth $28,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Viasat by 233.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in Viasat by 74.7% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 3,836 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc provides broadband and communications products and services worldwide. The company's Satellite Services segment offers satellite-based fixed broadband services, including broadband internet access and voice over internet protocol services to consumers and businesses; in-flight entertainment and aviation software services to commercial airlines and private business jets; satellite-based connectivity services; mobile broadband services, including satellite-based internet services to energy offshore vessels, cruise ships, consumer ferries, and yachts; and energy services, which include ultra-secure solutions IP connectivity, bandwidth-optimized over-the-top applications, industrial internet-of-things big data enablement, and industry-leading machine learning analytics.