William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma keeps an Outperform rating on Iridium Communications (IRDM) after Qualcomm (QCOM) announced a "major" smartphone partnership with the company at the Consumer Electronics Show. The analyst is "incrementally positive" on shares following the new developments. Previously, he was under the impression that Iridium was partnering with Samsung for smartphone connectivity on the Samsung Galaxy lineup. Now, it appears as though Iridium will be partnering with Samsung and a multitude of other mass-market consumer phone manufactures, with Qualcomm serving as the intermediary sales distributor, DiPalma tells investors in a research note. He believes Iridium shares will trade up more to a range of $60 to $75 over the year as more details are unveiled. The Qualcomm partnership is "transformational for Iridium’s addressable market and likely also transformational for its cash flow growth," writes DiPalma.
Published first on TheFly
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