Iridium Communications vs Lumen Technologies
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The short version
- Lumen Technologies is the larger business, with $12.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $872M for Iridium Communications, about 14 times as much.
- Iridium Communications grew revenue faster (4.9%, against −5.4%).
- Iridium Communications kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (27.1% operating margin, against −6.6%).
- Iridium Communications turned more of its sales into free cash flow (34.4% FCF margin, against 3.0%).
- Iridium Communications earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (8.7%, against −3.9%).
| Latest fiscal year | IRDM · FY25 | LUMN · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $4.8B | $4.6B |
| Revenue | $872M | $12.4B |
| Free cash flow | $300M | $371M |
| Net income | $114M | −$1.7B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.9% | −5.4% |
| 5-year growth | 8.4% | −9.8% |
| Share count change | −10.0% | 0.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 46.5% |
| Operating margin | 27.1% | −6.6% |
| Net margin | 13.1% | −14.0% |
| FCF margin | 34.4% | 3.0% |
| Return on capital | 8.7% | −3.9% |
| Return on equity | 22.0% | — |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.7B | $16.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.7x | 8.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $249M | $1.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 29.4x | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 4 |
FY16
IRDM $434M
LUMN $17.5B
FY17
IRDM $448M
LUMN $17.7B
FY18
IRDM $523M
LUMN $22.6B
FY19
IRDM $560M
LUMN $21.5B
FY20
IRDM $583M
LUMN $20.7B
FY21
IRDM $615M
LUMN $19.7B
FY22
IRDM $721M
LUMN $17.5B
FY23
IRDM $791M
LUMN $14.6B
FY24
IRDM $831M
LUMN $13.1B
FY25
IRDM $872M
LUMN $12.4B
IRDM
LUMN
FY16
IRDM 40.7%
LUMN 13.4%
FY17
IRDM 25.8%
LUMN 11.4%
FY18
IRDM 8.0%
LUMN 2.5%
FY19
IRDM 1.8%
LUMN −12.7%
FY20
IRDM 6.1%
LUMN 4.6%
FY21
IRDM 7.5%
LUMN 21.8%
FY22
IRDM 10.6%
LUMN 0.5%
FY23
IRDM 10.3%
LUMN −65.8%
FY24
IRDM 24.1%
LUMN 3.5%
FY25
IRDM 27.1%
LUMN −6.6%
IRDM
LUMN
FY16
IRDM −$180M
LUMN $1.6B
FY17
IRDM −$140M
LUMN $772M
FY18
IRDM −$128M
LUMN $3.9B
FY19
IRDM $80.3M
LUMN $3.1B
FY20
IRDM $211M
LUMN $2.8B
FY21
IRDM $261M
LUMN $3.6B
FY22
IRDM $273M
LUMN $1.7B
FY23
IRDM $241M
LUMN −$940M
FY24
IRDM $306M
LUMN $1.1B
FY25
IRDM $300M
LUMN $371M
IRDM
LUMN
FY16
IRDM —
LUMN 4.3%
FY17
IRDM 4.1%
LUMN 4.3%
FY18
IRDM 1.1%
LUMN 0.8%
FY19
IRDM 0.3%
LUMN −4.2%
FY20
IRDM 1.0%
LUMN 1.7%
FY21
IRDM 1.4%
LUMN 7.8%
FY22
IRDM 3.0%
LUMN 0.2%
FY23
IRDM 2.7%
LUMN −31.4%
FY24
IRDM 7.8%
LUMN 2.1%
FY25
IRDM 8.7%
LUMN −3.9%
IRDM
LUMN
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.