Risk Intelligence
79 / 100
Insufficient Data
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Above average on this measure.
IRDM · NASDAQ
Sector unavailable · Industry unavailable
$47.30
+0.57%
Close on Sep 11, 2026
Updated 12/19/2023
Long-term research evidence only. No price targets, no trading signals, no recommendations.
Investment Report Card
Sector unavailable · Data confidence partial
65 / 100
Rank #144 of 1,152 qualified companies
Top 21% · Watch
79 / 100
Insufficient Data
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Above average on this measure.
70 / 100
Insufficient Data
Does the business have the characteristics needed to create value over many years?
Above average on this measure.
26 / 100
Insufficient Data
Is the underlying business getting stronger or weaker?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
75 / 100
Positive disclosed activity
What are important owners actually doing?
Above average on this measure.
37 / 100
Elevated
Is today's price reasonable?
Weaker than most covered companies on this measure — and valuation is researched separately from the Suggested Investment Score.
68 / 100
Favorable Capital Returns
How effectively does the company reward shareholders?
Around the middle of the covered universe — and capital returns are researched separately from the Suggested Investment Score.
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC scores 70 on Long-Term Potential (B−), described by the research model as insufficient data. This describes business characteristics only — it is not a forecast of future returns.
Disclosed ownership evidence reads 75 (B): Positive disclosed activity. Ownership filings are historical disclosures, not signals.
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 37 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Elevated. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value. Valuation Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 68 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Favorable Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 5.6% a year and a share count falling about 4.3% a year. Capital Returns Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
No meaningful recorded changes in the stored history.
Risk Intelligence is a core model, Long-Term Potential, Fundamental Momentum, Valuation Intelligence and Capital Returns Intelligence are research models, and Ownership Intelligence is supplemental descriptive evidence. Valuation Intelligence and Capital Returns Intelligence each contribute 0% to the Suggested Investment Score. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Compare IRDM with other companiesResearch Collections
This company does not currently satisfy any collection rule. That is a stored research result, not a judgement about the business.
Browse collectionsAbout a minute to read
Written from stored research readings only. No hype. No trading signals. Just better evidence.
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC (IRDM) scores 65 out of 100 and ranks #144 of 1,152 qualified companies today. That places it in the top 21% of ranked companies. The stored tier for that score is watch.
Risk Intelligence reads 79 out of 100 (B), recorded as insufficient data. Above average on this measure.
Long-Term Potential reads 70 out of 100 (B−), recorded as insufficient data. Above average on this measure.
Fundamental Momentum reads 26 out of 100 (F), recorded as insufficient data. Weaker than most covered companies on this measure.
Ownership Intelligence reads 75 out of 100 (B), recorded as positive disclosed activity. Above average on this measure.
Valuation is currently the main point of caution: Valuation Intelligence reads 37 out of 100 (F), recorded as Elevated. IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 37 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Elevated. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value. Valuation Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
Capital Returns Intelligence reads 68 out of 100 (C+), recorded as Favorable Capital Returns. IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 68 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Favorable Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 5.6% a year and a share count falling about 4.3% a year. Capital Returns Intelligence is a research model and contributes nothing to the Suggested Investment Score or the daily ranking.
Elevated valuation: the current market price reflects a premium to this company's historical valuation and comparable companies (Valuation Intelligence 37 out of 100, Elevated). Data confidence for this company is partial.
No individual layer reaches the strongest band today. Fundamental Momentum remains the main area to watch. Separately from the score, valuation reads elevated at today's price.
Composite discovery model
Pro Investor Score™
65 / 100
A 0–100 composite discovery score combining Risk Intelligence, Long-Term Potential, Fundamental Momentum, and Ownership Intelligence. It helps rank qualified companies for further research and does not predict future returns.
30% contribution
30% contribution
20% contribution
20% contribution
75 / 100 · Positive · 20% of the Pro Investor Score
Coverage: Partial Coverage
50% of Ownership Intelligence · 10% of the total score
No reliably mapped professional-manager filings are stored, so this evidence is unavailable rather than neutral.
20% of Ownership Intelligence · 4% of the total score
Broad institutional evidence from resolved filings is positive.
15% of Ownership Intelligence · 3% of the total score
No discretionary insider transactions are stored for this company, so this evidence is unavailable rather than neutral.
15% of Ownership Intelligence · 3% of the total score
No qualifying major-holder filings are stored, so this evidence is unavailable rather than neutral.
Ownership Intelligence summarizes publicly disclosed activity among professional investment managers, broader institutions, company insiders, and significant strategic owners. It adds context to investment research but is not a validated predictor of future performance. Ownership information is publicly reported with a delay; the latest applicable reporting period is 2023-09-30, publicly disclosed 9/11/2026. Congressional activity is unavailable pending legal review and contributes nothing to this reading.
Strong risk profile
Risk Intelligence ranks in the top 9% of qualified companies, with higher_risk price risk.
Exceptional long-term potential
Stored profitability, capital efficiency and reinvestment readings rank near the top of the qualified universe.
Fundamental Momentum is softer
Reported business trends rank below the qualified median.
Ownership evidence is not uniformly supportive
The combined disclosed ownership evidence ranks below the qualified median.
Ownership Intelligence — Partial Coverage
Only part of the ownership evidence is available for this company. Missing evidence is left missing rather than replaced with a neutral value.
Price Risk is less favourable
Price Risk sits in the higher category relative to other qualified companies.
COMPOSITE DISCOVERY MODEL — RESEARCH STAGE · Data coverage Good. Rankings are recalculated daily using the latest available information. Individual components may update at different frequencies based on when new financial and ownership data becomes available.
Researched separately
Valuation Intelligence 37 · Elevated
Valuation Intelligence is currently researched separately and does not affect the Suggested Investment Score or daily ranking.
Researched separately
Capital Returns Intelligence 68 · Favorable Capital Returns
Capital Returns Intelligence is researched separately and contributes 0% to the Suggested Investment Score, the daily rank or any ranking event.
Score explanation
Four research areas carry fixed weights. Each area is compared against every other eligible company, then weighted. The four contributions below add to 64.7 of the stored score (64.7).
Risk Intelligence
30% of the score · contributes 27.5 points
How strong and defensively sound is the company?
Stands at the 92 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 79 · 43% of this company’s total score
How financially sturdy the company has been when conditions turned against it.
Risk Intelligence reads stored balance-sheet strength, historical downside behaviour and the company's price-risk grouping. A stronger reading describes past resilience; it does not protect against future losses.
Full methodologyLong-Term Potential
30% of the score · contributes 26.4 points
Does the business have the characteristics needed to create value over many years?
Stands at the 88 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 70 · 41% of this company’s total score
Whether the business has the durable characteristics long-term owners look for.
Long-Term Potential reads durability characteristics such as profitability consistency, cash generation and reinvestment capability over multiple reported periods.
Full methodologyFundamental Momentum
20% of the score · contributes 2.0 points
Is the underlying business getting stronger or weaker?
Stands at the 10 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 26 · 3% of this company’s total score
Whether the reported business results have been getting stronger or weaker.
Fundamental Momentum compares recent reported fundamentals with the company's own earlier periods, so improvement or deterioration is measured against its history rather than against a forecast.
Full methodologyOwnership Intelligence
20% of the score · contributes 8.8 points
What are important owners actually doing?
Stands at the 44 percentile of eligible companies · stored reading 75 · 14% of this company’s total score
What large reporting owners have actually been doing with their positions.
Ownership Intelligence reads public ownership filings: how many tracked reporting owners hold the company, and whether they were adding, holding, reducing or exiting in the latest disclosed period.
Full methodologyAdditional research — not currently included in the primary Suggested Investment Score.
Reported by insiders, large shareholders and professional funds. Shown beside our research, never blended into it.
Loading professional-investor activity…
Stored snapshots only
Research-score history available since September 2026.
Stored research history does not yet cover a full 30 days comparison for this company.
A change is reported as meaningful at 8 score points, 5 rank places, or any change of research classification. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.
Plain-English definitions, with the formula and the limitations of each measure.
Fifth research lens · outside the score
Valuation Intelligence
Valuation Intelligence is currently researched separately and does not affect the Suggested Investment Score or daily ranking.
Elevated
46
Elevated
Is this company expensive or inexpensive compared with its own history?
20
Expensive
How expensive is this stock compared with similar companies?
53
Reasonable
How much financial output does an investor receive relative to the price paid?
24
Expensive
Does the company's growth help justify the valuation investors are paying?
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 37 out of 100 on Valuation Intelligence, recorded as Elevated. The stock currently trades above most of its own recent valuation history and above comparable companies. This describes the price being paid relative to the company's financials — it is not a forecast and not a fair value.
Price data through September 11, 2026 · Financial data through the quarter ended June 30, 2026
Stored readings only. The dashed line is this company's own median for the selected measure.
Only one stored valuation reading exists so far, so there is nothing to chart yet. Valuation history builds forward from activation rather than being reconstructed.
Current P/E 53.7x · own median 22.1x · peer median 14.4x
Valuation is inherently uncertain. A stock that appears inexpensive can continue falling, and a stock that appears expensive can continue rising. Valuation Intelligence provides context about the price investors are paying — it does not predict short-term market movements, and it never produces a fair value, a price target or a buy or sell range. Model VALUATION_INTELLIGENCE_V1.
Sixth research lens · outside the score
Capital Returns Intelligence
Capital Returns Intelligence is researched separately and contributes 0% to the Suggested Investment Score, the daily rank or any ranking event.
Favorable Capital Returns
69
Favorable Capital Returns
Dividend reliability
30
Limited Capital Returns
Do buybacks actually reduce shares?
86
Exceptional Capital Returns
Is your ownership share protected?
88
Exceptional Capital Returns
Can the cash flow support it?
82
Strong Capital Returns
Cash returned versus company value
IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC reads 68 out of 100 on Capital Returns Intelligence (Favorable Capital Returns), reflecting a dividend that has grown about 5.6% a year and a share count falling about 4.3% a year.
How returned cash was used
Dividends $64.79M · net repurchases $49.58M · total returned $114.36M · 40% of free cash flow
Price data through September 11, 2026 · Financial data through the quarter ended June 30, 2026
Stored readings only. History builds forward from activation rather than being reconstructed.
Only one stored reading exists for this measure so far, so there is nothing to chart yet.
A very high dividend yield may reflect a falling share price or an unsustainable payout. Capital Returns Intelligence emphasizes consistency and sustainability rather than simply rewarding the highest yield.
Announced or gross buyback spending does not always mean shareholders are gaining ownership. Companies can simultaneously issue shares through employee compensation or acquisitions. Suggested Investments therefore considers actual share-count changes alongside repurchase spending.
Capital Returns Intelligence describes how a company returns capital to shareholders. It is not a measure of stock-price performance, it does not predict future returns, and a strong reading is never a recommendation to buy. Dividends and repurchases can be reduced or stopped at any time. Model CAPITAL_RETURNS_INTELLIGENCE_V1, contributing 0% to the Pro Investor Score.
Stored daily snapshots only
| Today | #144 | Score 65 |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days ago | Not ranked | No stored score |
| 90 days ago | Not ranked | No stored score |
| First suggested | September 12, 2026 | |
| Highest rank | #144 | |
In the company’s own words
Iridium Communications Inc. ("we," "us," or "Iridium") is a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite services. We are the only commercial provider of communications services offering true global coverage, connecting people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Our low-Earth orbit (LEO), L-band network provides specialized, reliable, weather-resilient communications services to regions of the world where terrestrial wireless or wireline networks do not exist or are limited, including remote land areas, open ocean, airways, the polar regions, and regions where the telecommunications infrastructure has been affected by political conflicts or natural disasters. In addition, our satellites have additional payloads to host specific additional services for other customers like Aireon LLC. We also utilize our long history operating a commercial LEO satellite system to provide a growing array of engineering and operational services to government customers and government network operators such as the U.S. Space Force.
Our primary business is to provide voice and data communications services to businesses, U.S. and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers via our satellite network, which has an architecture of 66 operational satellites with in-orbit spares and related ground infrastructure. We utilize an interlinked mesh architecture in space to route traffic across our satellite constellation using radio frequency crosslinks between satellites. This architecture minimizes the need for local ground facilities to support the constellation, which facilitates the global reach of our services and allows us to offer services in countries and regions where we have no physical presence.
We primarily sell our products and services to commercial end users by recruiting and expanding a global wholesale distribution network, currently encompassing approximately 120 service providers, approximately 310 value-added resellers (VARs), and approximately 90 value-added manufacturers (VAMs), which create and sell technology that uses the Iridium network either directly to the end user or indirectly through other service providers, VARs or dealers. These distributors often integrate our products and services with other complementary hardware and software and have developed a broad suite of applications using our products and services to target specific industries or business areas. We expect that demand for our services will increase as more applications are developed and deployed that utilize our technology.
Our commercial business, which we view as our primary source of long-term growth, is diverse and serves markets such as emergency services, maritime, aviation, government, utilities, oil and gas, mining, recreation, forestry, heavy equipment, construction, railways and other transportation. Many of our end users view our products and services as critical to their daily operations and integral to their communications and business infrastructure. For example, multinational corporations in various sectors use our services for business telephony, email and data transfer, including telematics and personal location tracking, and to provide mobile communications services for employees in areas inadequately served by other telecommunications networks. Commercial enterprises use our services to track and control assets in remote areas and provide telematics information such as location and engine diagnostics. IoT (Internet of Things) VARs integrate our products and services into diverse solutions including asset tracking, environmental monitoring, condition-based monitoring and security and alerting solutions, which are used across industries. Ship crews and passengers use our services for ship-to-shore calling, as well as to send and receive email and data files, and to receive electronic media, weather reports, emergency bulletins, and electronic charts. Shipping operators use our services to manage operations on board ships and to transmit data, such as course, speed, fuel, weather, and other navigation service data, as well as for emergency services, as one of only two networks currently approved to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) services. Increasingly, ships utilize Iridium terminals with integrated data and safety capabilities to complement and backup higher speed broadband services from other satellite operators that are subject to service outages, interference during rain, and geographic regulatory restrictions. Aviation end users use our services for air-to-ground telephony and data communications for position reporting, flight following, emergency tracking, weather information, electronic flight bag updates, and airline operational communications. Recreational users rely on our services as a safety and critical personal communications lifeline to remain in contact with friends and family, as well as for emergency distress signals.
Quoted from the business section of this company’s 10-K filed February 12, 2026. Read the filing
Four distinct intelligence areas
79
Fundamentally Qualified
No prior period to compare
Business Quality qualification score from the locked IA Defensive Research Core. Price Risk stays a separate category and is never blended in.
As of Sep 11, 2026
70
Elite Compounder
No prior period to compare
Durable business economics and reinvestment characteristics. Independent external validation is pending.
As of Sep 11, 2026
26
Deteriorating
No prior period to compare
Direction and breadth of change in underlying business fundamentals. Not a price-momentum signal.
As of Sep 11, 2026
—
Insufficient Data
No prior period to compare
No tracked manager filings mapped to this company.
Not enough stored history to chart IRDM yet. A company needs at least two published research or ownership periods before a trend can be shown.
Share price
Closing prices adjusted for splits and dividends. Past prices do not indicate future results.
Last stored close $47.30 · +164.0% over the selected range · 52 sessions shown
Balanced evidence
Risk and uncertainty
Public filings · descriptive only
Reporting holders
7
New holders
4
Increasing
1
Reducing
1
Exiting
0
Coverage
Excellent
Positive disclosed activity · Report period 2022-12-31 · Public 12/19/2023
| Manager | Change | Portfolio weight | Rank | Disclosed |
|---|
Insufficient high-confidence manager coverage.
Objective stored changes
No qualifying changes are recorded for this company in the stored research and filing history.
No high-confidence public ownership events are available.
General research only. Not personalized advice. Public filings may be delayed, amended, incomplete, or reflect positions that have changed since the reporting date.