Benzinga | Apr 29, 2021 08:49AM EDT

DISH Network Posts Upbeat Q1 Results, Decline In Pay-TV Subs

* DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) reported first-quarter FY21 revenue growth of 39.8% year-on-year to $4.50 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $4.37 billion.

* Pay-TV subscribers declined 2.3% to 11.06 million, DISH TV subscribers fell 3.6% to 8.7 million, while SLING TV subscribers rose 2.7% to 2.4 million.

* Pay-TV ARPU rose 5.5% to $93.63.

* DISH ended the quarter with 8.89 million retail wireless subscribers.

* Wireless revenue amounted to $1.3 billion. Wireless ARPU stood at $38.89.

* Service revenue remained flat at $3.16 billion. Equipment sales and other revenue declined 23.8% to $39.6 million.

* U.S. accounted for $4.49 billion in revenue, with the remaining from Canada and Mexico.

* Operating margin expanded 1,474 basis points to 19.2%. Pay-TV accounted for 89% of the operating income, while Wireless segment accounted for the rest.

* EPS rose to $0.99, exceeding the analyst estimate of $0.81.

* The company generated $1.1 billion in operating cash flow. It held $4.5 billion in cash and equivalents.

* DISH repurchased $205 million of its 6.75% Senior Notes due 2021.

* Price action: DISH shares traded lower by 0.76% at $41.28 premarket on the last check Wednesday.