DigitalGlobe Delivers Another Strong Quarter

Imagery collected by DigitalGlobe's various satellites. Image source: DigitalGlobe.

Shares of DigitalGlobe(NYSE: DGI) rose a modest 2.5% on Wednesday after the satellite imagery company released better-than-expected third-quarter 2016 results, marking its third straight quarterly beat and extending the stock's year-to-date gains to nearly 70% as of this writing.

Let's take a closer look at how DigitalGlobe launched the second half of the year.

DigitalGlobe results: The raw numbers

More From Fool.com

Motley Fool Founders Issue New Stock Buy Alert

Forget GE! Heres how to play the largest growth opportunity in history

Forget Apple! Heres a Better Stock to Buy

He Made 21,078% Buying Amazon. Heres His New Pick

Data source: DigitalGlobe.

What happened with DigitalGlobe this quarter?

• U.S. government revenue increased 3.2% year over year to $114.5 million, driven by demand for analytic value-added products and services, including new programs signed with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Defense Intelligence Agency, and a new Pentagon program.
• Diversified commercial revenue climbed 8% year over year to $67.3 million, driven by imagery delivery to both new and recently resigned commercial customers and continued strong Direct Access Program (DAP) performance across a majority of customers.
• DAP revenue grew 4.8% year over year to $30.3 million, driven by higher total access minutes across the majority of DAP customers.
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased 6.2% year over year to $97.6 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 70 basis points year over year to 53.7%.
• Delayed the planned Sept. 16, 2016, launch of WorldView-4 because of wildfires at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
• Cash flow from operations dropped 22.8% to $66.1 million, primarily because of timing of collections.
• Free cash flow $0.1 million, again because of collections timing and launch payments for the WorldView-4 satellite.
• In early October, entered into an agreement to acquire U.S. intelligence geospatial solutions provider The Radiant Group.
• Awarded the fifth year of the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery platform (Global-EGD) by the NGA.
• Repurchased 364,226 shares of common stock for $9.6 million, equating to an average price of $26.30 per share. That left roughly $29 million remaining under DigitalGlobe's original $335 million repurchase authorization.

What management had to say

DigitalGlobe CEO Jeffrey Tarr stated: "We are pleased to report that solid execution of our strategy is delivering better-than-expected results.With the upcoming launch of WorldView-4 and our acquisition ofRadiant Group, we will be even better positioned to support our customers as the leading commercial source of earth imagery and geospatial analytics."

Looking forward

DigitalGlobe also increased its full-year guidance once again,and now expects 2016 revenue of $700 million to $710 million (up from $680 million to $705 million previously), and adjusted EBITDA of $365 million to $375 million (up from $345 million to $365 million previously).

During the subsequent conference call, CFO Gary Ferrera explained that guidance was raised considering the combination of DigitalGlobe's strong performance through the first three quarters of the year and in particular revenue strength and lower-than-expected costs in the third quarter.

Ferrara also tempered expectations, cautioning,

That's fair enough, as DigitalGloble's business can be inherently lumpy, given both the variance in timing of orders and variable investments in satellite hardware and launches. In the end, though, this was undoubtedly a solid quarter from DigitalGlobe. Assuming all goes well with the launch of WorldView-4, which is currently sitting atop its Atlas V launch vehicle -- and has been rescheduled for launch on Nov. 6, 2016 -- it will be no surprise to see DigitalGlobe stock continue to ascend from here.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends DigitalGlobe. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.