Global satellite communications provider Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales falling 1.2% year on year to $1.16 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.17 per share was 78.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Viasat (VSAT) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $1.16 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.21 billion (1.2% year-on-year decline, 4.4% miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.17 vs analyst estimates of $0.10 (78.9% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $381.1 million vs analyst estimates of $383.3 million (33% margin, 0.6% miss)
- Operating Margin: 4.1%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 3.6%, down from 5.2% in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $11.2 billion
Company Overview
Operating a fleet of 23 satellites that orbit the Earth and beam connectivity from space, Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) provides satellite-based communications networks and services for airlines, maritime vessels, governments, businesses, and residential customers worldwide.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years.
With $4.63 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Viasat is one of the larger companies in the business services industry and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions.
As you can see below, Viasat’s 14.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was exceptional. This shows it had high demand, a useful starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Viasat’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed significantly as its revenue was flat over the last two years. 
This quarter, Viasat missed Wall Street’s estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 1.2% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $1.16 billion of revenue.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 6.7% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is above average for the sector and indicates its newer products and services will catalyze better top-line performance.
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Adjusted Operating Margin
Although Viasat was profitable this quarter from an operational perspective, it’s generally struggled over a longer time period. Its expensive cost structure has contributed to an average adjusted operating margin of negative 5.4% over the last five years. Unprofitable business services companies require extra attention because they could get caught swimming naked when the tide goes out. It’s hard to trust that the business can endure a full cycle.
On the plus side, Viasat’s adjusted operating margin rose by 7.9 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage. Still, it will take much more for the company to show consistent profitability.
This quarter, Viasat generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 6.2%, up 2.2 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development, especially since its revenue fell, showing it was more efficient because it scaled down its expenses.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Sadly for Viasat, its EPS declined by 8.4% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 14.1%. However, its adjusted operating margin actually improved during this time, telling us that non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes affected its ultimate earnings.
We can take a deeper look into Viasat’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. A five-year view shows Viasat has diluted its shareholders, growing its share count by 91.6%. This dilution overshadowed its increased operational efficiency and has led to lower per share earnings. Taxes and interest expenses can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals. 
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.
For Viasat, its two-year annual EPS declines of 16.9% show it’s continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data.
In Q2, Viasat reported adjusted EPS of $0.17, in line with the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. We also like to analyze expected EPS growth based on Wall Street analysts’ consensus projections, but there is insufficient data.
Key Takeaways from Viasat’s Q2 Results
It was good to see Viasat beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its revenue missed. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 7.9% to $79.30 immediately after reporting.
Is Viasat an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).