ViaSat news may be ‘major blow’ to growth story, says Raymond James

Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss keeps a Market Perform rating on ViaSat after the company said an unexpected event occurred during reflector deployment that may materially impact the performance of the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite. The issue “could be a major blow” to the timing of the ViaSat growth story, as Viasat-2 has been capacity constrained in the Americas for many quarters, and the company has been counting on ViaSat-3 to expand capacity in the Americas and resume fixed broadband subscriber growth,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm also wonders if there could be a similar issue on the VS-3B and VS-3C satellites, and if these satellites need to be re-evaluated or re-engineered before launch. ViaSat shares are down 34% to $28.46 in morning trading.