The Canadarm3 maker maintains its financial outlook despite the cancellation of a $1.8 billion satellite deal.
Brampton-based MDA Space maintained an optimistic fiscal 2025 outlook for third-quarter earnings despite losing a C$1.8 billion contract to US telecommunications company EchoStar in September.
More than half of MDA Space's $20 billion capabilities are in satellite systems.
Manufacturer Canadarm reported a 45 percent increase in revenue growth over last year, earning $409.8 million in the third quarter. Revenue was primarily driven by the satellite business, which earned $283.5 million, up 69 percent from the same period in 2024. The company attributed the growth to an increase in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation programs of its customers Telesat and Globalstar.
MDA's revenue growth is reflected in third-quarter 2025 gross profit of $108.1 million, up 43 percent from third-quarter 2024. The company also reported year-over-year growth in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and net income. The company's shares, which trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol MDA, rose about eight percent after the earnings report. However, MDA shares are still down nearly 20 percent this year.
Communications satellites will remain the cornerstone of MDA's sales. CEO Mike Greenlee said on an earnings call today that more than half of its $20 billion portfolio of capabilities is in satellite systems, “primarily in constellations for both broadband and point-to-device satellites.”
However, in September MDA missed a potentially significant constellation opportunity when Elon Musk-owned SpaceX ran to buy EchoStar's wireless spectrum licenses are worth approximately US$17 billion. MDA had signed a C$1.8 billion contract to support the EchoStar satellite constellation in Earth orbit just a month earlier, with contract options allowing the cost to increase to C$3.5 billion. The news wiped out a 20 percent rise in MDA's share price after the contract was signed.
MDA Chief Financial Officer Guillaume Lavoie said during the company's earnings call that it “did not recognize much revenue” on the EchoStar contract in the third quarter and that MDA was still working on a termination agreement.
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“That’s why we’ve left our leadership essentially unchanged, because that’s what’s changing,” Lavoie said.
MDA's contract troubles may not be over yet. Bloomberg recently reported that Globalstar, an MDA company, has signed a deal worth C$1.1 billion in Februaryheld early discussions with SpaceX about a potential sale. In the earnings call, Greenlee mentioned that MDA was “making good progress” in developing the Globalstar satellite constellation, but did not comment on “rumors or speculation regarding another company.”
Earlier this month M.D.A. invested 10 million dollars at Maritime Launch Services, one of the Canadian companies building a spaceport in Atlantic Canada. The deal marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between the two Canadian space companies, with MDA Space poised to become an operating partner supporting the spaceport's development and future operations. On the earnings call, Greenlee said supporting Canada's space ecosystem is an “important element” of the investment.
“MDA Space, as Canada's largest space company, serves a number of roles,” Greenlee said. “In addition to running a good business, we also play a leadership or leadership role in the country to help make things work in the space ecosystem.”
Image courtesy of MDA Space.
