Intelsat, Northrop Successfully Launch Galaxy 30 Satellite

Intelsat (INTEQ) and Northrop Grumman (NOC) have successfully launched Galaxy 30, a geosynchronous communications satellite that will provide high-performance television distribution service to Intelsat’s North American customers.

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The Northrop Grumman-manufactured Galaxy 30 and Mission Extension Vehicle 2 (MEV-2) launched on the Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center at 6:04 p.m. EDT. It separated from the rocket at 6:31 p.m. EDT, and Intelsat confirmed its signal acquisition at 7:02 p.m. EDT.

This marks the first satellite in Intelsat’s Galaxy fleet refresh plan and will replace Galaxy 14 once it is in service in early 2021.

“With C-, Ku-, Ka- and L-band capabilities, Galaxy 30 is the first four-frequency Intelsat satellite. In addition to serving Intelsat’s media business customers, Galaxy 30 will also offer broadband, mobility and network services to Intelsat mobile network operator, enterprise and government customers in North America. The new satellite is also carrying a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration hosted payload for Leidos” Intelsat wrote.

Galaxy 30 will help advance Intelsat’s U.S. C-band spectrum transition plan, which is accelerating America’s path to 5G, the company said, adding that it will not seek any reimbursement from the FCC for the launch or relocation.

“Intelsat was proud to partner with Northrop Grumman earlier this year to pioneer the future of in-space servicing with MEV-1 and our Intelsat 901 satellite. We’re looking forward to this next exciting servicing mission with Intelsat 10-02” stated Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler.

MEV-2 is scheduled to dock with Intelsat 10-02 in 2021, providing it with five additional years of high-performance life. Intelsat 10-02 delivers media distribution and broadband services to customers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

Shares in Northrop are flat year-to-date and the stock shows a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy analyst consensus. That’s based on 5 recent buy ratings vs 4 hold ratings. Meanwhile the average analyst price target indicates 13% upside potential from current levels.

“Q2 performance reminded us of the reason for our Buy rating” cheered Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu on August 2. Her buy rating comes with a $375 price target (10% upside potential).

“With spotty organic growth across primes, 5% was respectable as was the 4% EBIT growth. This was coupled with backlog up 8%, driven by a 48% increase for Space since year-end” the analyst told investors. She believes space should continue to lead growth, with revenue expanding at an estimated 10% CAGR over the next three years. (See NOC stock analysis on TipRanks)