Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) and Julian Robertson, the legendary hedge fund manager and founder Tiger Management gained big from their investment on Dish Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) after the stock price of the company surged by 6% to $50.33 per share today.
The shares of Dish Network climbed after the satellite-television service provider generated strong financial results for the third quarter. The stock also moved higher after Charlie Ergen, chairman of the company commented that the idea of a potential acquisition remained on the table.
Buffett owns 547, 312 shares of Dish Network, and acquired its stake in the company at an average price of $38.94 per share in the previous quarter. Based on the current trading price of the stock, Buffett earned about$11 per share or approximately $5.7 million from his investment.
On the other hand, Robertson owns 443,000 shares of Dish Network, and acquired his stake in the company at an average price of $38.94 last quarter. He also gained around $11 per share or approximately $4.85 million from his stake in the company.
Third Quarter Financial Results
During the third quarter, Dish Network reported a net income of $315 million or $0.68 earnings per share compared with a net loss of $158 million or $0.35 losses per share in the same period a year ago. The satellite-television service provider’s total revenue increased from $3.52 billion to $3.60 billion.
During the quarter, Dish Network said its pay-TV ARPU was $81.05, up from $76.99 in the same period a year earlier. Its pay-TV subscriber churn rate declined from 1.81% to 1.66%. The company added 734,000 new pay-TV subscribers. It ended the quarter with $14.049 million pay-TV subscribers.
Dish Network said 75,000 net broadband customers were added during the quarter, bringing the total number of its subscribers to 385,000.
Plan to acquire T-Mobile still on the table
Another factor that drove the stock value of Dish Network higher on Tuesday was the comment of Ergen that the plan to acquire T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) is still on the table. He said, “I don’t ever rule out anything. I think acquiring a company, selling our company, merging, partnering—those are all on the table.”
He added that his objective is to transform Dish Network given the fact that its core pay-TV business is already mature. Ergen is planning to utilize the spectrum it acquired to broadcast or stream mobile videos. According to him, a partnership with T-Mobile could happen if an acquisition will not materialize because mobile network is a major factor to achieve his vision for the company.
