Why EchoStar Rallied Again in September

Shares of EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) rallied another 23.6% in September, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

EchoStar's rally was all the more notable, given that EchoStar had already rallied nearly 90% in the prior month, when it managed to sell a big slug of its wireless spectrum at prices much higher than the market had anticipated.

September saw a repeat occurrence, with EchoStar selling even more of its wireless spectrum assets, bringing in even more cash, as well as shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX. Management also gave a presentation regarding what it has done with all the cash, as well as its operational plan going forward.

EchoStar unloads more spectrum to SpaceX, with even more to go

Early in September, EchoStar announced it had agreed to sell another $17 billion worth of wireless spectrum to Elon Musk's SpaceX. That deal followed EchoStar's blockbuster $23 billion sale of wireless spectrum to AT&T (NYSE: T) in August.

Unlike the all-cash AT&T sale, the SpaceX sale was split between $8.5 billion in cash and $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. The AT&T sale had essentially been enough to wipe out all of EchoStar's debt, so a cash infusion wasn't necessarily needed.

Meanwhile, EchoStar is now a SpaceX shareholder, which, though private, appears to be an exciting growth company that should serve the space economy for decades to come. That may be a refreshing "upside" play for EchoStar shareholders, whose main other businesses are the declining DISH TV satellite TV and broadband, as well as the low-growth Boost Mobile wireless service.

In a mid-month presentation, EchoStar management said that it will immediately pay down $11.4 billion in debt right away, taking out its highest-yielding notes that go up to an 11.75% yield. That should greatly lower the company's interest expense, while leaving EchoStar with $24.1 billion in cash against just $13.4 billion in debt after the debt paydown. In addition, EchoStar will have its $8.5 billion stake in SpaceX also on the balance sheet.

EchoStar also still had about 45 MHz of spectrum remaining at the end of the month, down from the 140 MHz or so before the AT&T deal. On the last day of September, Bloomberg reported Verizon (NYSE: VZ) was interested in the remaining spectrum still held by EchoStar. That caused another jump in the stock, capping another great month for shareholders.

Image source: Getty Images.

Could EchoStar still be cheap?

EchoStar's market cap has risen to about $21.6 billion. While that is a lot higher than early in the year, EchoStar now has $10.7 billion in net cash, along with $8.5 billion in SpaceX shares, and some extra spectrum of unknown market value.

That means the remaining "legacy" businesses are only valued at $2.4 billion -- even valuing the remaining spectrum at zero. And while the remaining businesses technically are "losing" money, they have made $15.5 billion in revenue over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the retirement of EchoStar's debt should relieve lots of interest expense and could also enable lower capital spending.

EchoStar chairman and co-founder Charlie Ergen is a savvy operator, as evidenced by his purchase of wireless spectrum that later turned out to be very valuable. It wouldn't be crazy to assume that he and his team will create more value going forward with the greater financial flexibility they have to work with today.

Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.