T2 Partners, a value and sometimes quasi-activist investment firm run by Glenn Tongue and Whitney Tilson,  accumulated a sizable position in Iridium through shares and warrants during May and June.  Frankly, this is almost shocking when you consider what type of companies they have bought into historically.

T2 now owns or controls some 6,529,338 shares of stock in Iridium per a 13D filing from this week.  In reality, it is less than it seems as the purchases include 862,576 shares of common stock as well as 5,666,762 warrants which can be exercised and converted into shares of the common stock.  The purchase cost was more than $20.2 million.  The filing noted that Iridium was undervalued and represented an attractive investment opportunity and that the size of the purchase may grow or contract.

Iridium’s chief satellite rival is Globalstar Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT), but that company loses money and is likely to for the foreseeable future.  Iridium is profitable and Thomson Reuters estimates are $0.59 EPS for this year and $0.86 EPS for 2012.  If Iridium makes money while its rival loses money, maybe it is a value stock by default.   Globalstar’s revenues in 2010 were about $67.9 million while Iridium had sales of $348.1 million.

What is amazing is that Iridium trades at about 14.5-times 2011 earnings and about 9.9-times expected 2012 earnings.  Before you think of satellite communications just  being needed by mercenaries and supply chain professionals in war zones, consider all the oil platforms and remote areas in the world where mining or other commodity businesses take place.  Satellite telecom (and data) is the only reliable answer and cost doesn’t really matter. Another key issue going for the company is that there are large barriers to entry.  Launching a series of global satellites is no cheap process.

At $8.67, its 52-week trading range is $7.65 to $11.13 and its market cap is $615 million.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $12.31.

One issue that has always plagued Iridium is that it came public after having been taken private after going bankrupt long ago.  Another issue is that it came public in 2008 and we won’t retell you about something called The Great Recession.

After looking over the data, maybe there is value in Iridium.  If you would have asked us on the fly, the guess would have been beyond ‘No.’

JON C. OGG

The Perseid meteor shower is what is left of Comet Swift-Tuttle that last visited the inner solar system in 1992.  Each year in August Earth passes through a debris field left along the orbit of the comet.  Most debris items are the size pebbles or sand grains, but they enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 37 miles per second or 133,000 MPH.  In short, nothing physical responds too well if it is hit by debris.  That includes satellites, the space station, space craft and so on.  If you don’t trust that this is a risk, all you have to do is look in the annual reports of any major satellite company.  Again, it is a low risk, but a risk nonetheless.

There are many companies that could be affected if debris from a meteor shower were to make contacts with any of the satellites.  The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI), GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH), ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: ICOG), Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) and Globalstar Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) and ORBCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBC) are all likely monitoring their birds with a little more caution during this Perseid show.  There is also Orbital Sciences Corp. (NYSE: ORB) and Loral Space & Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).

DISH Network notes, “Meteoroid events pose a potential threat to all in-orbit satellites. The probability that meteoroids will damage those satellites increases significantly when the Earth passes through the particulate stream left behind by comets. Occasionally, increased solar activity also poses a potential threat to all in-orbit satellites…. The loss, damage or destruction of any of our satellites as a result of an electrostatic storm, collision with space debris, malfunction or other event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

On this front, DIRECTV notes in its annual report, “In-orbit risks include malfunctions, commonly referred to as anomalies, and collisions with meteoroids, other spacecraft or other space debris….. In the event of a complete satellite failure, our services provided via that satellite could be unavailable for several days or longer while backup in-orbit satellites are repositioned and services are moved. We are not insured for any resultant lost revenues.”

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) claims to be the world’s leading manufacturer of geostationary satellites and it manufactures satellites for all walks of the satellite world.  It recently acquired Argon ST in the satellite arena.  Unless many satellites were simultaneously knocked out or damaged, Boeing is too large and too diversified to get any major benefit from the possibilities of satellite woes based on meteor showers.

Two other companies in the satellite manufacturing and servicing businesses that are direct pure-plays in the satellite industry are Orbital Sciences Corp. (NYSE: ORB) and Loral Space & Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).  Both companies are small enough ($1.44 billion market cap at Loral and $777 million at Orbital) that any new business as a result of repositioning, relaunching, or reordering of new satellites would actually be a win for either or both of these two.

DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI) and GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) were two recent winners that hit all-time highs after the two received $7.3 billion in combined orders to supply satellite imagery to U.S. intelligence services.  Digital Globe has commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services that are sourced from its own advanced satellite constellation.  GeoEye sells international information services to government and commercial markets.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) and DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) compete head to head for in-home and in-office satellite ‘cable’ TV subscribers.  Each has hundreds of channels.  Dish had 14.1 million subscribers at the end of 2009 versus DIRECTV’s 18.5 million U.S. and 6.5 million in Latin America.  As of the end of 2009, DIRECTV had a network of 12 geosynchronous satellites and it appears that DISH had more when you include its leased satellites.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT) is an Israel-based company which provides Internet Protocol (IP) based digital satellite communication and networking products and services worldwide.  The company was founded in 1987 and has shipped over 750,000 VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals) to more than 85 countries on six continents.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is satellite radio monopoly and it ended the latest quarter with some 19,527,448 subscribers.  It has multiple satellites between it and the XM network and any single satellite would likely only result in some interruption.  Still, any ‘event’ would not be a welcome wagon for Mel Karmazin and friends.

Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH) offers up broadband satellite network services and systems for broadband Internet services via commercial-grade antennas. The company also provides satellite, wire line, and wireless communication networks and services to all business sectors around the globe.  The company had about 326,000 subscribers on SPACEWAY 3 as of June 30, 2010 and it has shipped more than 2.2 million systems to customers in over 100 countries.  In short, satellite ‘interruption,’ damage, or destruction would not be welcome.

ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: ICOG) was founded in 2000 to launch and operate a global constellation of communications satellites to support voice and data services to mobile, portable and fixed devices.  This is still a developing company where its DBSD North America unit is being restructured and the company will be a minority shareholder upon that completion.  The company recently completed a $30 million rights offering and the stock has never really taken off and its remaining ten partially completed MEO satellites were placed in storage when construction was suspended in 2004.  It has a case against Boeing which it won a $603 million claim, but that is on appeal and is expected to be concluded next year.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) and Globalstar Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) are two of the satellite phone service providers that provide satellite audio and data communications.  Globalstar has recently taken delivery of the first three second-generation satellites from manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and is expecting three more later this month for what it hopes will be an October launch.  With over 400,000 subscribers, Globalstar claims to be the world’s largest provider of mobile satellite voice and data services.

ORBCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBC) is a smaller player that operates satellite-based data communications for a two-way wireless data messaging system optimized for narrowband data communications via about 29 low-Earth orbit satellites.  It is into space-based Automatic Identification System services.  It announced this week that its total revenues for the June quarter were $7.8 million.  Despite a 15.8% revenue jump, its satellite network would have to face multiple strikes to really interrupt operations and the odds of that are so low that it is hard to fathom.

Most likely there will be no major fallout from this.  If there is, it will be costly.  To date, meteor showers and debris showers have brought mostly entertainment at night under clear skies.

JON C. OGG

Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) did some technical damage and the fundamentals may be shifting here.  This is a company that managed to grow sales during much of the recession and either the cycle is peaking or there are issues.  When it said that same-store sales grew only 1%, it also gave the revenue figure for its Q2 period rising 9% to $495.1 million with an expected earnings of $0.45 to $0.46 EPS vs. $0.38 a year ago but versus a prior guidance of $0.45 to $0.48 EPS.  The company said the guidance was “due primarily to the challenging retail environment, as well as a change in consumer shopping behaviors.”  The company has earnings estimates of $2.79 EPS this year, $3.02 EPS next year, and $3.36 two-years out.  Shares are not expensive in valuation at under $25.00 versus a 52-week range of $19.10 to $33.24, but the problem is this was over $30.00 as recently as July 23.  This one was weak on above average volume.  Aeropostale shares have to fly lower.  If this follows the same pattern as late 2008 when it broke under the 200-day moving average as we saw this week, then this will stabilize for a few days and then it will fall about 15% lower.  There is more risk than reward in the stock.

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) murdered its shareholders with its lower full-year guidance based upon lower military student enrollments.  Shares hit a new 52-week low of $28.50 with a closing price of $28.96.  The 32% drop on Friday, along with the new legislation after industry investigations that risk federal funding, is going to keep pressure on it and on peers (for-profit education peer tickers are APOL, CECO, COCO, WPO, LOPE, BPI, CPLA, EDMC, DV, ESI, LINC).  The turbulence and volatility here will likely remain elevated for this company and its related peers.

The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) had its ADRs touted by Barron’s in this weekend’s edition for international traders.  It noted, “A Brighter Day for Two Bailed-Out Banks : Lloyds Banking Group and Bank of Ireland appear poised to perform well.”  We have previously noted how this one could run up to $5.50 before any real resistance comes into play.  This leaves about 20% upside if our call is right.  The stock is still under the highs on Monday of $4.86 with a $4.75 close, but this Friday’s close versus the prior Friday’s close IRE’s brought a gain of almost 4%.  Unless the Euro-currency tanks, there is more room to run higher here.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) reported earnings on Friday after the close that can be interpreted as both bearish and bullish.  Earnings were $3.074 billion versus $1.78 billion in the second quarter of 2009 as $1,866 per share on an adjusted basis.  The net figure after you back out a $671 per share hit against earnings from the derivatives losses comes to earnings of $1,195 per share. Thomson Reuters had estimates at $1,360.44.  The A-Shares closed at $120,600.00.  Berkshire Hathaway still holds the week old “top performer” as we said the performance of the conglomerates was making “2010, The Year of the Conglomerates.”

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) may be a winner of the H-P scandal as its efforts to go into the data center now competes against H-P.  Cisco has earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell. and it was in our “Next Week’s Can’t Miss Earnings” on Friday before the close.  At $24.07, its 52-week trading range is $20.68 to $27.74.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was reported after the close Friday as having received a letter from the FDA hitting it on marketing materials, which we have outlined at BioHealthInvestor.com with our expected outlook.  Profit taking versus buyout rumors (hopes).

Globalstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSAT) is still up considerably from the lows of late-2008 and early-2009 but at $1.77 this is down close to 90% from the post-IPO highs of late 2006. The sat-phone provider had a late-Friday amended S-3 filing around 2:40 PM EST showing that holders would be able to sell up to 13,000,000 shares from stockholders associated with its acquisition on December 18, 2009 of certain assets and the assumption of certain liabilities of NOXA Holdings LLC.  Go back to December 18 and the stock was only trading at $0.95 versus the $1.77 close on Friday.  Some guys who sold their company are now able to lock in an extra 84% in gains on top of the business sale.  With an average volume of about 700,000 shares and with trading volume having been low and under average volume every day since July 16, it seems like a selling volume wave from holders is about to come into play that could make shares a bit cheaper.  Its 52-week range is $0.61 to $2.11.

Greenhill owns roughly 17.5% of GHL Acquisition. It will make a cashinfusion to help fund the deal.  Iridium’s current holderswill receive roughly $100 million in cash and 36 millionshares of the combined operation.  GHL will ultimately have about a 55% controlling interest in the company.

Iridium has more than 300,000 global wireless satellite voice and datacustomers.  This isn’t its first pony ride as a public company.  Thisused to trade as Iridium under various tickers on NASDAQ asits status changed and changed before its ultimate bankruptcy.

We have followed this company along with competitor Globalstar Inc.(NASDAQ: GSAT).  Unfortunately, it has been a horrible post-IPO performance sincetrading above $15.00 in late 2006. Iridium now trades as a $2.00+ stock. It has been on our "IPO-Watchlist" of private companies whichmay need to come public to fund further growth.  Skyterra Communications(OTCBB-SKYT) and Inmarsat plc (London-traded) are also in this space.

You can see the full details on the Iridium page provided here.

Jon C. Ogg
September 23, 2008

• GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) wasn’t under its 52-week low in the last hour today, but hit $8.23 vs. an $8.28 prior. Aerospace & Defense and Real Estate. Bad combo.
• Globalstar (NASDAQ: GSAT) got back above its prior $3.08 low over the last 52-weeks, but this one just seems to keep getting worse.
• Lionbridge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LIOX) was down at $2.66, under the $2.70 to $6.29 range.  It looks like the lion’s roar is is a meow, at best.
• National Citiy Corp (NYSE: NCC) was down over 4% at $5.55, under the $5.76 to $35.86 range.
• Playboy (NYSE: PLA) going from bad to worse, and still not a cheap stock.  Down another 7% at $6.00 late in the day with a $6.38 to $12.00 52-week range.  If this keeps up Heff might have to turn in that mansion, and his activities too.
• Southwest Water (NASDAQ: SWWC) managed to get back above the 52-week lows of $10.52 today, but water (and water utilities) is supposed to be one of those safe sectors.
• Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) merely hit its prior low of $7.81 today.  But this stock was at $66.00 over the last year.

Jon C. Ogg
May 16, 2008

First Marblehead  (FMD) Investment deal from Goldman Sachs looks weak. Down to $3.12 from 52-week high of $45.70.

Chico’s FAS (CHS) Weak same-store sales. Falls to $5.42 from 52-week high of $27.94.

Pantry (PTRY) Brokerage downgrade. Sells off to $11.20 from 52-week high of $48.96.

Globalstar (GSAT) Raising money through note offering. Down to $3.98 from 52-week high of $12.35.

Virgin Media (VMED) Large bond offering and downgrade. Slips to $12.37 from 52-week high of $30.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Tuesday, April 1st, before the filing, shares opened at $7.39 and jumped to $7.59 at close. Shares dropped to $7.05 on Wednesday. Today, Globalstar hit a new 52-week low of $4.85 earlier today on an 11% drop.  Shares have recovered to $5.20 early afternoon, although that is still down 5% today.  The prior 52-week range before today was $5.24 to $12.35.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about buybacks, special financings, secondary offerings, M&A, and more previews for other special situations.

This was weak enough early this morning that it looked like it was at risk of not even coming.  There is still no assurance that this will price tonight, but that has been the expectation this week.  This was one of the more unique securities filings so what structurethat last filing ultimately takes and at what price is still up in theair.

Rachel Lopez
April 9, 2008

The Notes will be convertible into Globalstar common stock, cash, or a combination, at Globalstar’s option.   The interest rate, conversion rate, conversion price and other terms of the Notes will be determined at the time of pricing of the offering.

Holders of the Notes may require Globalstar to repurchase the Notes if Globalstar is involved in certain types of corporate transactions or other events constituting a fundamental change (in other words, a put feature).

Globalstar also intends to enter into a share lending agreement with Merrill Lynch to lend shares of its common stock to the share borrower.  Globalstar will enter into an underwriting agreement with Merrill Lynch and the borrower so that the share borrower can sell the borrowed shares in an underwritten registered public offering and will use the short position resulting from the sale of such shares to facilitate the establishment of hedge positions by investors in the Notes.

Globalstar expects that approximately 15 to 20 million of the loaned shares will be initially offered in a fixed price offering, with the remaining shares subsequently offered and sold from time to time at prevailing market prices in various transactions.

Globalstar will not receive any of the proceeds from sales of borrowed shares, but it will receive a nominal lending fee from the share borrower.

For some reason, this sounds like loaning out your house when you plan to sell it.  This isn’t the only time that deals have been structured like this to accommodate collars and to generate lending income.  But it will sure be crucial to see what these terms end up being.

We frequently discuss restructurings, insider activity, activist investor trends, IPO’s, back door plays into IPO’s, SPAC’s, spin-offs, and more on our open email distribution list.

Jon C. Ogg
April 1, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

As far as the use of proceeds, Globalstar noted that a part of the proceeds will be used to meet capital expenditures relating to it procuring and deploying second-generation satellite constellation and related ground facilities.

The potential size of the offering is rather large for this company.  Its shares have been cut in half from its 52-week highs appear to be down some 60% from its late-2006 IPO.  Its market cap is now about $565 million.  On last look, the company had $57.3 million in total liabilities.

When you see shelf filings of this size, these usually are a combination of debt and stock.  It’s hard for a company to get away with diluting current shareholders by more than half.  Either way, it looks like the fully diluted share count may soon be much larger than today.

Jon C. Ogg
March 19, 2008

Worldgate Communications (WGAT) Future of video phone company continues to concern. Falls to $.30 from 52-week high of $1.60.

Globalstar (GSAT) Satellite company shares fall to $6.12 from 52-week high of $17.68.

TLC Vision (TLCV) Eye care company shares fall to $2.94 from 52-week high of $6.10.

Douglas A. McIntyre