Iridium had a pretty solid 2022, and if management’s forecast proves accurate, they are poised for yet another year of high, single-digit OEBITDA growth coupled with industry-best free cash flow metrics. And that’s without any contribution from the company’s Qualcomm partnership. Is it real? Can it be big? With the stock trading at a ~20x multiple on 2023, the market clearly thinks so. As for us, we’re continuing to model high-single growth until we’re proven wrong. To the upside.
Commercial service revs up ~12% y/y. Seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth
Consumer IoT devices reached 765,000, up 33% y/y with no signs of slowing
Total billable subscribers across all customer sets passed two million right at the beginning of 2023
Qualcomm opportunity difficult to size but portends era of significant growth
Subscriber equipment sales up 102% as new products and pent-up demand from supply chain troubles of yesteryear were unleashed
Broadband revenues grew ~22% as high-ARPU Certus products see growing adoption
Iridium headcount up >20% with manpower added to support new products and services."