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Technology Stocks : Echostar Comm. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John J. Thrall who wrote (606)	2/9/1998 3:12:00 AM
From: John J. Thrall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1394

Its been a late night... I waded my way through the recent Edgar filings and found what might make me the bear for this thread. Echostar has outstanding $483m 12 7/8 % 1994 notes - due 2004 $424m 13 1/8 % 1996 notes - due 2004 $375m 12 1/2 % 1997 notes - due 2002 The numbers on the left are the current face value of the debt outstanding, and at those interest rates the company is facing a mountain of repayments coming due in the not too distant future. Another concern of mine is that there are provisions in the 1997 notes that put severe limitations on additional debt offerings or short term borrowings. The 1997 notes in particular are guaranteed by revenue from the DISH network subsidiary as well as Echostar IV. Come the year 2000 DISH will be shelling out 100's of millions of dollars a year in debt payments even before the principle comes due (1997 issues alone amount to 45m a year). Given the cost of getting new subscribers we can look at a lot more preferred shares being issued, as well as more common stock floats. This looks like one massive bet that consumers really want that two dish local-TV solution. I questions the intelligence/need for E IV (225m and rising) given this debt picture. Please explain to me how I am misinterpreting the numbers so that I can get excited about this stock again. ( In case you don't have the link, full report at: edgar-online.com ) Regards, John