Iridium Communications, a company that provides satellite phone services, reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter of 2024. This is because they added more subscribers than expected, especially for their commercial internet of things (IoT) service, which connects everyday objects to the internet. The company's CEO, Matt Desch, said they plan to keep doing things that help their shareholders, like buying back shares and paying dividends. The company is still expecting to meet its goals for the full year 2024. Read from source...

- Q2 EPS of 27 cents, exceeding expectations, driven by a 13% rise in total billable subscribers
- Despite missing revenue forecasts, Iridium shows robust growth in commercial IoT, reaffirms 2024 outlook with strong shareholder returns.
- Iridium ended the quarter with 2.41 million total billable subscribers, versus 2.14 million for the year-ago period. Subscriptions are up from 2.33 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.
- Total billable subscribers grew 13% year-over-year, led by growth in commercial IoT.
- Net income primarily benefitted from a year-over-year decrease in depreciation expense associated with extending the estimated useful lives of the company’s satellites and the prior year’s write-off of the company’s remaining ground spare.
- Iridium repurchased three percent of its shares and increased its quarterly dividend to common shareholders, according to CEO Matt Desch. “We plan to continue being aggressive with our shareholder-friendly activities in 2024, based on current market valuations,” he added.
- Outlook: The company reiterated its full-year 2024 outlook. Total service revenue growth is projected between 4% and 6% for the full year 2024.
- Price Action: IRDM shares are trading higher by 9.49% to $28.38 at last check Tuesday.