If you're looking for a company that can benefit from wars and disasters, ViaSat
ViaSat met analyst expectations of $0.28 per diluted share for the quarter and $1 for the full year, adjusted for one-time items. That's despite revenues being 4.7% above expectations. If you're disappointed by profits rising slower than revenues, it might be helpful to know that ViaSat often performs development to meet specific customer specifications and then charges that customer back for the research costs.
That leads to higher revenues as well as higher R&D costs, which puts the lower net margins in a somewhat brighter light. The analysts don't have to get the custom-development expenses right, because this accounting method ensures that the extra cost here doesn't affect their EPS estimates. Gross and operational margins, on the other hand, benefit from this kind of accounting action, and those measures are up year over year, both on a quarterly basis and for the full year.
Selling satellite communications to the government and to big businesses -- ViaSat's customer roster includes Boeing
Of course, this is a small player in a large field, but the industry doesn't seem to be too cutthroat. Many of ViaSat's larger competitors, like L-3 Communications
The 25.4% growth in full-year revenues and 20.4% EPS uptick are nice examples of the good things that can happen when you work together to deal with difficult situations, as ViaSat is doing in its handmade web of business relationships. A 40% stock price gain in just 12 months may be dearer to your own heart, and you got that, too.
If there is a strike against ViaSat at this point, it could be the price increase that values the company at 30.2 times trailing earnings and 24.9 times forward earnings. If you don't trust the easily manipulated net-income numbers, the 1.64 price-to-trailing sales ratio looks downright cheap. I prefer cash flow, but there were no cash flow statements in the earnings release. Do your due diligence and make up your own mind -- it's the Foolish thing to do.
More on the remote-communications industry:
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Fool contributor Anders Bylund dodges hurricanes every year, with varying success. Foolish disclosure blows him away, too, and he owns none of the companies mentioned.