Earnings call transcript: ViaSat Q4 2026 beats EPS expectations

Viasat Inc. (VSAT) reported its fourth-quarter 2026 earnings on May 28, revealing a notable earnings per share (EPS) beat, with actual EPS of -$0.02 significantly exceeding the forecasted -$0.43. This represents a 95.35% surprise, despite a slight revenue miss with actual revenue at $1.17 billion against a forecast of $1.19 billion. Following the earnings announcement, Viasat’s stock price saw a 1.31% increase, closing at $86.34 in aftermarket trading.

Viasat delivered record results for fiscal year 2026, achieving $4.6 billion in revenue despite challenges such as the U.S. government shutdown. The company reported a GAAP net loss of $34 million, a marked improvement due to gains from asset sales and reduced general and administrative expenses. While the company posted a diluted loss of $2.55 per share over the last twelve months, InvestingPro Tips indicate that analysts predict the company will be profitable this year, aligning with management’s optimistic guidance. The company maintains a "GOOD" financial health score on InvestingPro, with a current ratio of 2.13 demonstrating solid liquidity. The fiscal year’s performance was bolstered by a strong backlog and growth in awards.

Viasat’s actual EPS of -$0.02 far exceeded the forecasted -$0.43, marking a substantial 95.35% surprise. However, revenue fell short of expectations by 1.68%, coming in at $1.17 billion compared to the anticipated $1.19 billion. This earnings beat is notable given previous quarters’ performance and market conditions.

Following the earnings release, Viasat’s stock price increased by 1.31%, closing at $86.34 in aftermarket trading. This movement reflects investor optimism about the company’s earnings performance and strategic initiatives. The stock remains near its 52-week high of $89.79, indicating strong market confidence. The remarkable rally has delivered an extraordinary 838% return over the past year, with the company’s market capitalization now standing at $11.81 billion. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock currently appears overvalued relative to its Fair Value estimate, placing it among companies on the Most Overvalued list—a consideration for investors evaluating entry points.

Viasat’s future guidance suggests continued growth, with EPS forecasts for fiscal 2027 ranging from $0.05 to $0.17 per quarter. Revenue projections show a steady increase, with expectations for fiscal 2027 reaching $4.81 billion. The company’s ongoing satellite fleet expansion and strategic partnerships are key drivers of this optimistic outlook.

CEO Rick Baldridge stated, "Our record financial performance and strategic advancements position us well for future growth. The successful progression of the ViaSat-3 satellite fleet will significantly enhance our service capabilities and market reach."

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the timeline for the ViaSat-3 satellite fleet’s full operational capability and potential impacts of macroeconomic conditions on future earnings. Executives emphasized their confidence in meeting projected timelines and highlighted strategic measures to mitigate economic risks.

For investors seeking deeper analysis, Viasat is one of 1,400+ US equities covered by comprehensive Pro Research Reports, which transform complex Wall Street data into clear, actionable intelligence through intuitive visuals and expert analysis.

Jericho, Conference Facilitator: My name is Jericho, and I’ll be your conference facilitator this afternoon. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Viasat’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 earnings results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Lisa Curran, Chief Enterprise and Strategy Officer. Ms. Curran, you may begin the conference.

Lisa Curran, Chief Enterprise and Strategy Officer, Viasat: Thank you, Jericho. We will present certain non-GAAP financial measures on today’s call. Information required by the SEC relating to these non-GAAP financial measures is available in our Q4 fiscal year 2026 shareholder letter on the investor relations section of our website. During the presentation, we will describe certain of the more significant factors that impacted year-over-year performance. We will also make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future. Actual results might differ materially from any forward-looking statements that we make today. Information regarding these factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings and annual report on Form 10-K.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. With that, I’ll turn it over to Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO.

Mark Dankberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Viasat: Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us today. I’m Mark Dankberg, CEO and Chairman of Viasat. With me, along with Lisa, we have Gary Chase, our Chief Financial Officer. As always, we encourage reading the shareholder letter and referencing the slides we posted on our website earlier this afternoon for more details. I’ll start with three areas up front. Gary will review our fiscal year 2026 and fourth quarter results and a preliminary outlook for fiscal year 2027. We’ll take questions. I’ll cover an update on our strategic perspective, including the cooperation agreement with Carronade Capital Management and updates on ViaSat-3 flights two and three. Our top-level financial year 2026 results and our near-term objectives and operational and strategic initiatives. First, I’d like to welcome Shekar Ayyar and Jinhy Yoon to our Board of Directors.

Shekar is a seasoned technology executive with deep operating experience at scale across enterprise software, cloud, networking, and communications infrastructure. With significant public company experience, including business strategy and M&A. His board experience includes seeing Altair through its $10-plus billion sale to Siemens. Jinhy brings strong financial governance and capital allocation experience to the board, advising on and structuring billions of dollars in public debt issuances and working extensively with executive teams on strategic transactions and risk management, including as a member of Intelsat’s board through the completion of its sale to SES. Both Shekar and Jinhy have been appointed to our Board Strategic Review Committee. Earlier this month, we also announced a cooperation agreement with Carronade. We have appreciated the constructive dialogue with Carronade over the past year and are pleased with this agreement, which we believe is in the best interest of Viasat and its shareholders.

On the Viasat-3 front, subsequent to quarter end, we successfully completed all deployments on Flight 2, including the reflectors and boom. Service entry is pending authorization from the FCC. Also subsequent to quarter end, Viasat-3 Flight 3 launched successfully on April 29th. Since then, radiator and solar array deployments have been successfully completed and orbit raising is underway. Flight 3 is expected to cover the Asia-Pacific region, arrive on station in about a month, and have service entry expected in August or September this calendar year. Our ongoing fleet expansion support key growth initiatives in aviation, maritime, fixed services, and government SATCOM businesses. It also introduces important new capabilities, including new forms of resilience for our government and commercial customers. We believe that the Viasat-3 satellites are the most advanced commercial satellites in the world in terms of adaptive beamforming for cost efficiencies, user performance improvements, and resilience to interference.

We also believe they set new commercial standards for solar power generation and thermal dissipation. Both those capabilities are among the foundational technology challenges for developing economical data centers in space. Switching to fiscal year 2026 results, those financial results were largely consistent with our expectations and plans entering the year, despite headwinds from the U.S. government shutdown during the back half of the fiscal year. Gary will go through the financial results in greater detail, but some highlights include record new contract awards and backlog, along with modest growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA that are also both at record levels. Our cash generation is a clear standout, as we generated nearly $600 million in free cash flow and about $180 million excluding the lump sum Ligado payment. We’ve also had positive free cash flow in each of the last five quarters.

We’ve achieved this while still investing for our future. Our strong cash performance has contributed to strengthening our capital structure, including very substantial progress towards our target leverage ratio of below 3.0. Switching to near-term operational and strategic initiatives. As I shared last quarter, we have three key near-term focus areas to drive growth in fiscal 2027 and beyond. First, our ongoing fleet expansion is expected to roughly triple bandwidth inventory. An increasing adaptive beam forming flexibility is an additional boost to the fleet’s effective capacity, offering higher speeds on both forward and return links. We’ll also expand our fleetwide multi-orbit capabilities in maritime by augmenting our existing LEO and GEO resources. We are making steady progress on our AERA Ka-band multi-orbit terminal for in-flight communications, which has already entered the line fit certification process for all Boeing commercial airliners.

Telesat is also progressing with launch of its first pathfin