Raymond James analysts upgraded shares of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) to Strong Buy from Outperform, maintaining a $28 per share price target on the stock in a note to clients Monday.
SATS shares have surged following the upgrade, currently up more than 20% at $23.40, at levels last seen in June last year.
The analysts told investors that SATS is "holding all the cards," such as "cash, capacity, and cache of spectrum."
"We think the company is positioned very well at a critical juncture for the U.S. Satellite industry, driven by significant capacity being brought online with the Jupiter 3 satellite, a very strong balance sheet with $1.7B in cash and -$0.2B in net debt, and significant fallow S-Band spectrum holdings," wrote the analysts.
"With the launch and deployment of Jupiter 3 (J3) satellite, the company is moving from Horizon 1 of its strategic roadmap (pre-J3) to Horizon 2 (J3 monetization) and is actively working through possibilities for Horizon 3 (long-term strategic opportunities like M&A and S-Band monetization)," they added.
The analysts concluded that following their downgrade of the stock in November last year, it is "still trading at a shockingly low valuation," while "several significant items have changed."