Iridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM) reported Q4 EPS of ($0.09), $0.05 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.14). Revenue for the quarter came in at $132.2 million versus the consensus estimate of $127.99 million.

"2018 was an outstanding year for Iridium. Our company delivered service revenue growth of 17% and equally impressive subscriber growth of 16% to end the year with more than 1.1 million active users. Our core business has never been stronger, and momentum in commercial IoT continues to fuel innovation and new applications, which are driving new commercial partnerships and subscriber growth. We achieved our highest revenue growth as a public company and our best OEBITDA growth in seven years,\" said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. Desch continued, \"With the completion of the Iridium® NEXT upgrade of our constellation, our financial transformation is well underway. Having now completed an intense period of capital investment, we are turning our attention to a new growth phase for the company that should deliver new sources of revenue and OEBITDA growth, supporting significant free cash flow that can benefit shareholders."

Commenting on Iridium CertusSM, Desch said, "Feedback on our new broadband service, Iridium Certus, which launched in January, has been overwhelmingly positive. This broadband service sets a new benchmark in L-band connectivity for performance and reliability and has already attracted new service providers to invest and build innovative applications for this global platform."

Desch concluded, "We are proud to have completed our constellation upgrade. The expanded capabilities of these satellites bolster our market leadership position and extend our offering of new, more powerful satellite solutions to customers that depend on real-time, mission critical connectivity and remote information."

2019 Outlook

The Company issued its full-year 2019 outlook for total service revenue, OEBITDA and net leverage and currently expects:

• Total service revenue of approximately $440 million for the full-year 2019.
• Full-year 2019 OEBITDA between $325 million and $335 million. OEBITDA for 2018 was $302.0 million.
• Net leverage of approximately 4.5x OEBITDA at the end of 2019.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Iridium Communications (IRDM) click here.