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Compared to Estimates, Iridium (IRDM) Q3 Earnings: A Look at Key Metrics

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Iridium Communications (IRDM - Free Report) reported $245.73 million in revenue for the quarter ended September 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 8.3%. EPS of $0.38 for the same period compares to $0.35 a year ago.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $240.81 million, representing a surprise of +2.04%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +31.03%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.29.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Iridium performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
  • ARPU - Commercial - Voice and data: $48.00 versus $49.29 estimated by four analysts on average.
  • ARPU - Commercial - IoT data: $7.63 compared to the $7.79 average estimate based on four analysts.
  • Billable Subscribers - Total commercial voice and data, IoT data and Broadband service: 2.58 million versus 2.55 million estimated by four analysts on average.
  • Billable Subscribers - Total government voice and data and IoT data service: 121 thousand versus the four-analyst average estimate of 114.7 thousand.
  • Revenue- Subscriber equipment: $19.05 million versus the five-analyst average estimate of $21.94 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -11.5%.
  • Revenue- Service: $187.5 million compared to the $177.44 million average estimate based on five analysts. The reported number represents a change of +13.5% year over year.
  • Revenue- Service- Commercial service revenue: $159.93 million versus $149.7 million estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +15.6% change.
  • Revenue- Service- Government service revenue: $27.57 million versus $27.76 million estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +2.5% change.
  • Revenue- Engineering and support service: $39.19 million compared to the $41.41 million average estimate based on five analysts. The reported number represents a change of -2.5% year over year.
  • Revenue- Service- Commercial service revenue- Hosted payload and other data service: $41.43 million versus $32.61 million estimated by four analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +121.3% change.
  • Revenue- Engineering and support service- Government: $38.87 million compared to the $40.55 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +1.4% year over year.
  • Revenue- Engineering and support service- Commercial: $0.32 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $1.98 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -82.9%.

View all Key Company Metrics for Iridium here>>>

Shares of Iridium have returned -8.4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

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