This acquisition really does nothing to jeopardize, or for that matter enhance, a long-rumored deal between AT&T (NYSE: T) and Dish, made headlines again last week when Credit Suisse suggested that AT&T may be ready to make an offer for Dish. For its part, Dish has agreed to purchase satellite communications provider DBSD North America Inc., which is currently in bankruptcy, for about $1 billion. If the deal goes through, Dish would add wireless spectrum, something AT&T would be more than happy to have.

The catch, of course, is whether or not regulators would allow AT&T to acquire either Dish or competitor DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV). And as soon as AT&T announces a deal, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) would be in line to acquire the other. President Obama has outlined a plan to expand wireless broadband access to residents of the rural US and to create a nationwide mobile emergency network. The more spectrum that AT&T and Verizon have available, the better their chances of getting a piece of the action.

The terrestrial cable broadband providers, Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), and Cablevision Systems Corp.(NYSE: CVC), are certain to object to any expansion or consolidation from the large wireless carriers. It’s unlikely that they will want to compete for wireless spectrum, but they could certainly raise objections that would slow down and perhaps persuade regulators to stifle consolidation in wireless broadband.

Dish may not be able to complete the buyout of DBSD as cheaply as the company had hoped because a bankruptcy judge has ruled that DBSD must entertain other bids that have been reported to be in the works.

The deal with Hughes doesn’t add a lot of value to Dish from AT&T’s point of view. EchoStar’s role with Dish expands, but doesn’t break into a new space. Dish’s deal with DBSD is more important, but could still fall through. Even if it does, though, it’s not enough to be a deal-breaker for AT&T.

Shares of Hughes are trading off about -3.75% this morning, under $60/share, while EchoStar shares are up about 1%.

Paul Ausick

We have given a breakdown of what has come about on each and what to expect during the week ahead  if applicable.  You will notice that we did not include any earnings previews this week.  This is the crest of earnings season and we gave a full earnings preview on about 25 major companies reporting this coming week, 11 of which are DJIA components.  We have a separate issue on The Top 5 Analyst Calls of the Week that we released independently over the weekend as well.  There was also enough in research calls specific to biotech and drug companies that we released a Top BioHealth Research Calls of the Week.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) (NYSE: BRK-A) was given the “Mr. Moneybags” cover article in Barron’s over the weekend.  The report calls that the billions and billions in new cash coming in from debt repayments and the huge increase in cash flow from operations could lead to a dividend in the next 12 to 18 months if Buffett doesn’t find another elephant of a deal.

Clinical Data Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA) is back on the radar after the FDA approved its antidepressant drug Viibyrd.  Analysts already see potential peak sales above $2 billion as this antidepressant is believed to not interfere with sexual desire as much as in some rival drugs.  Shares closed at $15.03 on Friday and rose almost 15% to $17.24 in the Friday after-hours session.  The 52-week trading range is $10.87 to $22.39 and the consensus price target is already $29.67 per Thomson Reuters data.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) closed down on Friday after having been up originally after huge blowout earnings.  The ongoing problem is that of the lack of adult supervision.  Some say that making Larry Page CEO is good and that it is time, but with close to a $200 billion market cap there were at least some concerns that Google needs more.  If Apple is a model based upon the Steve Jobs news, something hard to exactly compare on a Apples-to-Googles basis, then the same 6.2% drop from after the news would come to another slide of close to 2% on a static basis.

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

• Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• Calamos Asset Management (NASDAQ: CLMS) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
• Foundry Networks (NASDAQ: FDRY) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Bank Of America.
• Greenhill (NYSE: GHL) Cut To Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
• Hughes Communications (NASDAQ: HUGH) Started as Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) cut to Market Perform at KBW.
• Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• McKesson (NYSE: MCK) started as Market Outperform at JMP Securities.
• MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) started as Buy at UBS.
• Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Jon C. Ogg
June 6, 2008

The broadband satellite network solutions and services global leader intends to offer 2 million common shares and an additional 239,000 shares will be offered by selling stockholders, including senior management members.

Joint book-runners will be Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers; and co-managers are Banc of America, Cowen & Co., Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wachovia Securities.  The underwriting syndicate will also be granted an option to purchase an additional 335,940 shares of common stock for over-allotments.

The proceeds from the public offering valued at approximately $100 million from the company itself will be used for the purchase of a satellite or for general corporate purposes.  Hughes will not receive any proceeds from selling stockholders.

Shares of Hughes are down over 3% at $50.00 in early morning trading. The 52-week range is $42.00 to $61.00. The market cap currently sits around $965 million.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other secondary offerings, special financings, mergers, IPO’s, spin-offs, and other special situations.

Rachel Lopez
May 13, 2008

• Apollo Group (APOL) and Corinthian Colleges (COCO) started as Buy at B of A.
• Comcast (CMCSA) downgraded to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Fannie Mae (FNM) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray; and also downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Freddie Mac (FRE) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
• Hughes Communications (HUGH) started as Outperform at Wachovia.
• Intel (INTC) raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
• Northern Trust (NTRS) cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
• Pzena (PZN) started as Underweight at J.P.Morgan.
• Security & Surveillance Technology (CSR) started as Overweight at Lehman.
• United Tech (UTX) added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.

Jon C. Ogg
December 5, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Coupled with WiMax deployments from firms like Clearwire (CLWR) and Sprint (S), the number of companies marketing big pipes to the home is increasing fairly fast. Good for customers. Bad for the companies.

Douglas A. McIntyre