Dish off slightly as RBC downgrades on spectrum monetization concern
Feb 9 2015, 11:16 ET | By: Jason Aycock, SA News Editor
Dish Network (DISH -0.7%) was the surprise story of the FCC's AWS-3 spectrum auction, snapping up some $13B work -- but RBC Capital Markets thinks the company may be sitting on it a while, downgrading Dish's shares to Sector Perform.
"We are downgrading Dish (to sector perform) as we see few near-term prospects for Dish to monetize its spectrum," says RBC's Jonathan Atkin.
Atkin concludes that AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) have bought ample capacity for the next few years and that Sprint (NYSE:S) has airwaves that can compete on price with Dish's.
"We still view a combination with T-Mobile (with Dish as the acquirer) as possible, with an eventual take-out by Softbank/Sprint worth contemplating over the longer term," Atkin adds.
RBC has a price target for Dish Network of $81; shares are trading at $75.11.
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