Dish Drops to 24-Year Low on Concerns About Subscriber Losses

(Bloomberg) — Dish Network Corp. fell to a 24-year low Wednesday after Barclays became the most recent Wall Street analyst firm to cut the stock’s target price in what has been a challenging year for the nation’s second-largest satellite TV provider.

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Citing concerns that Dish margins may be under pressure if the company continues to lose more TV and wireless subscribers, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar lowered his target price to $10 from $14. The move, along with financing questions, sent the stock down 9.4% to $8.08 at the close, the lowest price since 1999.

Dish is attempting transform its business from a growth-starved pay TV provider to a broadband wireless service. But construction of a new nationwide wireless network is expected to exceed the initial $10 billion budget and the picture hasn’t improved as the launch of the new mobile 5G service suffered delays.

The company said on a Feb. 23 earnings call that it suffered a network outage that took down its internal IT systems. In a filing a few days later, Dish said some data, including potentially personal information, was stolen as part of a cyberattack. While the Dish and Sling TV services and Boost Mobile stayed operational for many customers, some couldn’t pay bills or reach call centers.

“The vast majority of our websites, customer care functions, self-service applications, and payment systems are now operational,” a Dish spokesman said Tuesday. Dish is expected to report first quarter earnings in the coming weeks.

Hack related expenses could be about $75 million, according to an estimate last month from New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin.