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Viasat Launches Enhanced LAISR Solution: Will the Stock Benefit?

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Viasat, Inc. (VSAT - Free Report) has achieved a significant milestone in the satellite telecommunications industry with the launch of its cutting-edge Enhanced L-band Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (LAISR) solution, aimed at offering flexible communications to airborne, maritime and land users worldwide.

VSAT’s Focus on Cost-Effective SATCOM Connectivity

Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA, Viasat designs, develops and markets advanced digital satellites and other wireless networking and signal-processing equipment for public, military and government enterprises.

The state-of-the-art Enhanced LAISR solution is primarily developed to address specific government requirements. As these organizations are increasingly depending on highly mobile crewed and uncrewed Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions, the use of reliable connectivity becomes essential for transmitting large volumes of data.

Viasat’s LAISR solution offers impressive beyond line-of-sight satellite communications (SATCOM) connectivity in a cost-effective way via low-size, weight and power user terminals.

VSAT’s New Launch to Boost Global Operational Flexibility

This Enhanced LAISR solution promises to offer government organizations with highly flexible and accessible communication required in their missions. To connect to the Enhanced LAISR services, customers need to use Inmarsat’s Enhanced L-band Maritime Antenna (ELMA) and the upcoming LAISR-COTM (comms-on-the-move) terminal. 

Operating on Inmarsat’s technologically advanced global ELERA network, the small-size Enhanced ELMA provides maritime vessels and land expeditionary with worldwide connectivity at data rates of up to 3 Mbps.

Will VSAT Stock Benefit From the Launch

Viasat is making steady progress on the payload module with the development of its revolutionary ViaSat-3 broadband communications platform, which will have nearly 10 times the bandwidth capacity of ViaSat-2 and will be capable of covering one-third of the world, including the Americas. Consequently, the Satellite Services business is progressing well with key metrics, including ARPU (average revenue per user) and revenues, showing impressive growth.

ARPU is growing on the back of a solid retail distribution network, which accounts for a rising proportion of high-value and high bandwidth subscriber base. Furthermore, the growing adoption of in-flight Wi-Fi services in commercial aircraft is proving conducive to business growth. 

The company’s impressive bandwidth productivity sets it apart from conventional and lower-yield satellite providers that run on incumbent business models. It has a competitive advantage in bandwidth economics, global coverage, flexibility and bandwidth allocation, which makes it believe that mobile broadband will act as a profit churner with a significant improvement in in-flight connectivity revenues.


In a nutshell, as the demand for faster and more reliable connectivity continues to surge, innovations like this underscores Viasat’s continued dedication toward boosting its service offerings, which, in turn, will likely generate incremental demands for its products and services, leading to higher revenues. Improving financial performance is likely to propel the stock upward.

VSAT’s Stock Price Performance

Shares of Viasat have lost 42.2% over the past year against the industry’s growth of 37.1%.

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VSAT Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Viasat currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry have been discussed below.

Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, sells products to a prestigious list of clients, including global Fortune 500 companies in sectors such as cloud giants, enterprises, financial institutions and specialized cloud service providers. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

It delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 15.02%. In the last reported quarter, Arista delivered an earnings surprise of 8.25%.

Harmonic Inc. (HLIT - Free Report) enables media companies and service providers to deliver ultra-high-quality broadcast and OTT video services to consumers globally. It delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 32.5%. It currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1.

Airgain, Inc. (AIRG - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 35%.

Based in San Diego, CA, Airgain provides antenna products as integrated wireless solutions. These devices are designed to address vital connectivity requirements during product development and throughout the entire lifecycle of other industries, such as automotive and consumer, in addition to various sectors within an enterprise.


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