Iridium Communications (IRDM) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $2.51B
• Dividend Yield: 3.3%
• Average Volume (3M): 2.37M
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 22.5
• Beta (1Y): 0.43
• Revenue Growth: 7.30%
• EPS Growth: 21.31%
• Country: US
• Employees: 873
• Sector: Communication Services
• Sector Strength: 97
• Industry: Telecommunications Services
• EPS (TTM): 0.24
• Shares Outstanding: 104,956,760
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 2,607,662
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 2,367,374
• PEG Ratio: 1.29
• Price to Book (P/B): 4.03
• Price to Sales (P/S): 2.14
• P/FCF Ratio: 6.22
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.65
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 4.76
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 8.64
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 9.21
• 1Y Price Target: $22.75
• Price Target Upside: -3.76% Downside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 5
• EPS Forecast (FY): 1.12
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $884.23M

• Rating: 73 Outperform
• Price Target: $25.00 ▲(5.75% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/14/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/14/26

The score is driven primarily by strong profitability and cash flow, supported by favorable technical trends and reasonable valuation. The main offsets are elevated leverage and tempered 2026 growth outlook (including ongoing broadband pressure and some revenue timing lumpiness).

Positive Factors

Cash generation & conversion

Consistently strong free cash flow (pro forma $296M in 2025 and a projected $318M in 2026) and a 60% OIBDA-to-cash conversion provide durable internal funding for debt service, dividends, product investment and share returns, reducing reliance on external financing over the medium term.

Improved margins and profitability

Material margin improvement to ~27% operating and ~13% net in 2025 reflects structural operating leverage and higher-quality earnings. Sustainable margins support cash generation and resilience to revenue cyclicality, enabling investment in strategic initiatives while helping service elevated leverage.

Mission-critical market position & product pipeline

A unique global LEO constellation, sizable government contract wins and a growing product pipeline (PNT, NTN Direct, new IoT devices and terminals) create durable, higher‑value revenue streams and competitive differentiation that support multi-year structural growth in mission‑critical and IoT segments.

Negative Factors

Elevated leverage

High absolute debt and a near‑4x debt-to-equity ratio increase sensitivity to refinancing risk and earnings volatility. While cash flow covers service needs, elevated leverage constrains financial flexibility for opportunistic investments and makes deleveraging targets critical to reduce long-term refinancing and interest rate risk.

Broadband decline & equipment weakness

A secular decline in broadband revenue driven by ARPU compression and migration to lower-priced plans, together with softer equipment sales and a mix shift to lower-ticket IoT devices, poses a structural top-line headwind that may pressure segment margins and slow overall revenue growth unless offset by higher-margin services.

Moderated near-term growth & timing lumpiness

Management’s conservative 2026 guidance (flat to +2% service revenue) combined with PNT contract timing delays implies revenue and EBITDA growth may be muted and uneven. This increases execution risk on deleveraging and investment plans, and makes multi-year forecasts more uncertain until timing normalizes.

Iridium Communications Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Iridium Communications Inc. provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services. It also provides hosted payload and other data services, such as satellite time and location services, and inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. In addition, the company offers voice and data solutions comprising personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; mobile communications and data devices for the military and intelligence agencies, such as secure satellite handsets, as well as netted voice, messaging, and paging services; and maintenance services for the United States government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, personal connectivity devices, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, charging units, and others; and engineering and support services. Iridium Communications Inc. sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that include service providers, and value-added resellers and manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

How the Company Makes Money

Iridium Communications generates revenue primarily through service subscriptions, equipment sales, and value-added services. Its key revenue streams include monthly service fees from customers using satellite phones and data services, as well as one-time sales from satellite communication equipment. The company also earns revenue from partnerships with various organizations, including government contracts and collaborations with telecom companies that integrate Iridium's services into their offerings. Additionally, Iridium benefits from the growth of the IoT market, leveraging its satellite network to provide connectivity solutions for IoT devices, which further diversifies its earnings.

Iridium Communications Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Profitability and cash generation are strong (2025 operating margin ~27%, ~13% net margin; operating cash flow ~$400M and free cash flow ~$300M), supporting debt service. Offsetting this, leverage is elevated (debt-to-equity ~3.9x with a shrinking equity base) and 2025 revenue slightly declined (~-0.6%) with volatile free cash flow growth.

Income Statement

Profitability has strengthened materially over time: net margin moved from losses in 2020–2021 to solid profitability in 2024–2025 (~13% net margin), while operating profitability improved to a healthy ~27% operating margin in 2025. Revenue expanded steadily from 2020 through 2024, though 2025 showed a slight year-over-year decline (~-0.6%), suggesting growth has recently stalled. Overall, margins and earnings quality look strong, but the near-term top-line softness is a key watch item.

Balance Sheet

Leverage is the main constraint: debt remains high (~$1.79B in 2025) and the debt load has risen relative to equity as equity declined, pushing debt-to-equity up to ~3.9x in 2025 (vs. ~1.7x in 2023). Returns to shareholders are strong recently (return on equity ~25% in 2025), but part of that is amplified by the smaller equity base. The balance sheet is workable, yet more financially levered than it was a few years ago, increasing sensitivity to refinancing and earnings volatility.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is a clear positive: operating cash flow and free cash flow are consistently strong (2025 operating cash flow ~$400M; free cash flow ~$300M). Cash flow comfortably exceeds accounting earnings (operating cash flow roughly 3.6x net income in 2025), supporting debt service capacity. However, free cash flow growth was sharply negative in 2025 (after growth in 2024), indicating recent volatility that bears monitoring.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	871.66M	830.68M	790.72M	721.03M	614.50M
Gross Profit	674.08M	396.99M	283.10M	216.40M	158.67M
EBITDA	446.19M	415.67M	380.07M	386.08M	350.45M
Net Income	114.37M	112.78M	15.41M	8.72M	-9.32M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	2.53B	2.67B	2.66B	2.95B	3.18B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	96.50M	93.53M	71.87M	168.77M	320.91M
Total Debt	1.76B	1.81B	1.50B	1.51B	1.62B
Total Liabilities	2.07B	2.09B	1.77B	1.83B	1.89B
Stockholders Equity	462.60M	576.64M	888.10M	1.13B	1.29B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	299.79M	306.06M	241.43M	273.46M	260.73M
Operating Cash Flow	400.07M	375.95M	314.91M	344.73M	302.87M
Investing Cash Flow	-100.28M	-180.60M	-83.49M	-121.27M	-36.38M
Financing Cash Flow	-299.91M	-170.48M	-327.05M	-374.98M	-182.47M

Iridium Communications Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Positive
• Last Price: 23.64
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Positive
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Negative

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For IRDM, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 23.64 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 21.42, above the 50-day MA of 19.71, and above the 200-day MA of 21.88, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 1.13 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 64.64 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 86.99 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for IRDM.

Iridium Communications Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
IRDM	73 Outperform	$2.51B	22.54	22.01%	3.30%	7.30%	21.31%
IDT	70 Outperform	$1.23B	15.29	27.94%	0.47%	2.52%	10.02%
IHS	63 Neutral	$2.66B	5.74	―	―	-0.97%	―
Sector *	60 Neutral	$48.67B	4.58	-11.27%	4.14%	2.83%	-41.78%
GSAT	58 Neutral	$7.97B	-138.03	-12.45%	―	8.54%	-59.63%
GOGO	56 Neutral	$602.34M	-87.67	-6.63%	―	102.05%	-110.74%
CCOI	54 Neutral	$948.18M	-4.84	-229.15%	13.93%	-6.48%	-588.01%

Iridium Communications Corporate Events

Iridium Communications Appoints New Independent Director

On December 4, 2025, Iridium Communications Inc. announced the appointment of Louis M. Alterman as an independent director, expanding its Board of Directors to twelve members. Alterman’s extensive experience in leadership roles across the communications and technology sectors is expected to significantly contribute to Iridium’s strategic vision and shareholder value. Additionally, the Board declared a cash dividend of $0.15 per share, payable on December 31, 2025, to stockholders of record as of December 15, 2025.

The most recent analyst rating on (IRDM) stock is a Hold with a $17.50 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Iridium Communications stock, see the IRDM Stock Forecast page.