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Viasat Secures $153M Contract to Support BFT Program: Stock to Gain?

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Viasat, Inc. (VSAT - Free Report) recently secured a new contract from the Defense Information Services Agency aimed at providing network services to the U.S. Army Project Manager Mission Command’s Blue Force Tracker (BFT) program. The contract, valued at $153 million, spans five years, including a base year and four one-year option periods.

VSAT’s Role in Situational Awareness

The BFT network has been playing a crucial role for more than two decades in providing critical situational awareness to U.S. military commanders and forces. 

Per the contract, Viasat will provide its advanced engineering services and deep industry expertise to deliver seamless operational and technical support across the BFT network. This will include maintenance, configuration, update and development of hardware and software packages that are in line with the network’s modernization objectives. 

Viasat’s cutting-edge BFT services will allow tactical commanders to gain real-time situational awareness to help make critical decisions and communicate information to military assets from anywhere in the world. With its reliable satellite-based communication services, the military and allied forces can also deliver secured and affordable command and control messages and GPS data of friendly forces and enemies.

How VSAT Could Have Secured the Deal?

Headquartered in Carlsbad, CA, Viasat designs, manufactures and markets advanced digital satellite telecommunications and other wireless networking and signal processing equipment for both the public and military and government enterprises. Viasat has been a long-term partner of the BFT program for enhancing key situational awareness.

In 2010, it received an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract under the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below program to supply the next generation of high-speed and capacity BFT equipment to the U.S. Army. Since then, the company has secured multiple contract awards to develop and deliver terminals and networking services to support the BFT program, including the deployment of its L-Band mobile transceivers on more than 100,000 tactical platforms across the U.S. military.

Will VSAT Stock Benefit From the Contract?

As the demand for faster and more reliable connectivity continues to surge, contracts like this underscores Viasat’s continued dedication toward expanding its global presence and enhancing its capabilities in delivering innovative solutions, leading to higher revenues. Improving financial performance is likely to propel the stock upward.

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. 

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 growthIt has achieved a significant milestone in the satellite telecommunications industry with the launch of its cutting-edge Enhanced LAISR solution, aimed at offering flexible communications to different government organizations globally.

VSAT's Stock Price Performance

Shares of Viasat have lost 32.3% over the past year against the industry’s growth of 36.7%.

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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.

Ubiquiti Inc. (UI - Free Report) carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. The company offers a comprehensive suite of networking products and solutions for service providers and enterprises. Its highly flexible global business model remains apt to adapt to the changing market dynamics to overcome challenges while maximizing growth. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the last reported quarter, Ubiquiti delivered an earnings surprise of 4.19%.

Workday Inc. (WDAY - Free Report) carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 7.36%. WDAY is a leading provider of enterprise-level software solutions for financial management and human resource domains. 

Airgain, Inc. (AIRG - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. 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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