These guys are losing TONs of $$$ but their stock goes up? Why? The guy at the helm is trusted and proven to be a winner. WS knows future cash flows will be $$$ in the bank & he won't screw them or milk it.
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March 18, 12:35 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
EchoStar Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results
LITTLETON, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 1999--EchoStar Communications Corporation (''EchoStar'') (NASDAQ: DISH; DISHP) today reported that its 1998 fourth quarter revenue increased more than 60% as compared to the fourth quarter of 1997. EchoStar's fourth quarter revenues totaled $287 million and $179 million for the three-month periods ended December 31, 1998, and December 31, 1997, respectively. EchoStar also reported pre-marketing cash flow of $90 million for the three months ended December 31, 1998, as compared to $53 million for the corresponding period in 1997. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (''EBITDA'') during the fourth quarter of 1998 totaled negative $45 million compared to negative EBITDA of $9 million during the same period in 1997. EchoStar experienced its strongest ever DISH Network subscriber growth during the fourth quarter of 1998, adding 331,000 net subscribers for a cumulative total of 1.94 million subscribers as of December 31, 1998.
As expected, operating and net losses for the quarter ended December 31, 1998, increased as compared to the corresponding period in 1997. EchoStar reported an operating loss of $70 million and $48 million for the three months ended December 31, 1998, and December 31, 1997, respectively. The Company's net losses totaled $113 million and $71 million during those same periods. These increases in EchoStar's net losses principally resulted from increases in marketing expenses (including subscriber acquisition costs) as well as increases in DISH Network operating expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 1998, EchoStar reported total revenue of $983 million compared to $477 million for the corresponding period in 1997. Pre-marketing cash flow totaled $300 million during the year ended December 31, 1998, compared to $129 million during the year ended December 31, 1997. EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 1998, totaled negative $20 million, compared to EBITDA of negative $51 million for the corresponding period in 1997. EchoStar's operating loss for the year ended December 31, 1998, improved to $123 million compared to $224 million reported during the corresponding period in 1997. The Company's net losses totaled $261 million and $313 million during those same periods. The improvement in EchoStar's 1998 results compared to 1997 is principally attributable to the increase in DISH Network and ETC revenues.
For more information about EchoStar, visit the new investor relations section of our website at www.echostar.com.
Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All statements contained herein, as well as statements made in press releases and oral statements that may be made by EchoStar or by officers, directors or employees of EchoStar acting on its behalf, that are not statements of historical fact constitute ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of EchoStar to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: a total or partial loss of a satellite due to operational failures, space debris or otherwise; a decrease in sales of digital equipment and related services to international direct-to-home (''DTH'') service providers; a decrease in DISH Network subscriber growth; an increase in subscriber acquisition costs; impediments to the retransmission of local or distant broadcast network signals; lower than expected demand for EchoStar's delivery of local broadcast network signals; an unexpected business interruption due to the failure of third-parties to remediate Year 2000 issues; the inability of EchoStar to retain necessary authorizations from the Federal Communications Commission (''FCC''); an increase in competition from cable, direct broadcast satellite (''DBS''), other satellite system operators, and other providers of subscription television services; the introduction of new technologies and competitors into the subscription television business; a merger of existing DBS competitors; a change in the regulations governing the subscription television service industry; the outcome of any litigation in which EchoStar may be involved; failure to consummate the transaction with News Corporation Limited (''News Corporation'') and MCI Telecommunications Corporation/WorldCom (''MCI'') whereby EchoStar Communications Corporation (''ECC,'' and together with its subsidiaries, or referring to particular subsidiaries in certain circumstances, ''EchoStar'' or the ''Company'') would issue equity securities in exchange for two satellites that have not yet been completed or the failure of such satellites to be successfully launched or to become operational or a delay in such launch or operation; general business and economic conditions; and other risk factors described from time to time in EchoStar's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that include the terms ''believes,'' ''belief,'' ''expects,'' ''plans,'' ''anticipates,'' ''intends'' or the like to be uncertain and forward-looking. All cautionary statements made herein should be read as being applicable to all forward-looking statements wherever they appear. In this connection, investors should consider the risks described herein.
EchoStar Communications Corp., headquartered in Littleton, Colo.,
includes three interrelated business units:
-- DISH Network is EchoStar's state-of-the-art DBS system that
offers customers over 300 channels of digital video and
CD-quality audio programming, fully MPEG-2/DVB compliant hardware
and installation.
-- EchoStar Technologies Corporation (ETC, formerly HTS - Houston
Tracker Systems, Inc.), designs, manufactures and distributes DBS
set-top boxes, antennas and other digital equipment for DISH
Network and various international customers that include
ExpressVu Canada and Telefonica's Via Digital system in Spain.
ETC also provides uplink-center design, construction oversight
and project-integration services for customers internationally.
-- Satellite Services provides the delivery of video, audio and data
services to business television customers and other satellite
users. These services include satellite uplink, satellite
transponder space-usage and other services. Satellite Services
also administers SKY VISTA, a direct broadcast satellite service
offering up to 27 channels of popular digital satellite
television programming to viewers in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
and the U.S. territories in the Caribbean.
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