For the quarter ended December 2024, Iridium Communications (IRDM) reported revenue of $212.99 million, up 9.4% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $0.31, compared to $0.30 in the year-ago quarter.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $203.78 million, representing a surprise of +4.52%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +93.75%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.16.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

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: $45 versus $44.97 estimated by three analysts on average.
• ARPU - Commercial - IoT data: $7.29 compared to the $7.04 average estimate based on three analysts.
• ARPU - Commercial - Broadband: $268 versus $270.57 estimated by three analysts on average.
• Total Net billable Subscriber Additions: -22 thousand compared to the 45.3 thousand average estimate based on three analysts.
• Revenue- Subscriber equipment: $21.60 million versus the five-analyst average estimate of $18.68 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +37.9%.
• Revenue- Service: $154.02 million versus $154.04 million estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +4.1% change.
• Revenue- Engineering and support service: $37.38 million compared to the $30.80 million average estimate based on five analysts. The reported number represents a change of +20.3% year over year.
• Revenue- Service- Commercial service revenue: $127.27 million compared to the $127.44 million average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +4.7% year over year.
• Revenue- Service- Government service revenue: $26.75 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $26.85 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +0.9%.
• Revenue- Service- Commercial service revenue- Hosted payload and other data service: $15.41 million versus $15.84 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +1.5% change.
• Revenue- Engineering and support service- Government: $34.48 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $30.12 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +17.6%.
• Revenue- Engineering and support service- Commercial: $2.90 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $2.12 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +66.3%.

View all Key Company Metrics for Iridium here>>>

Shares of Iridium have returned +0.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +3.9% 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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