- Dish Network (DISH +0.2%) is trailing the broader market today after MoffettNathanson downgraded the shares to Sell on concerns over the value of the company's spectrum cache.
- Craig Moffett holds a $40 price target on the stock, implying just under 20% downside.
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Several companies have the cash to acquire Dish's spectrum, including Apple, Alphabet and Amazon.com along with wireless leaders AT&T and Verizon -- but they won't make an offer, he says.
- Between that and narrowing prospects for a merger with T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS), "downward pressure" will hit Dish shares as investors realize that the spectrum isn't worth $30B as some hope, he says.
- The option to buy out of a spectrum position might be gone, Moffett says, leaving an outright sale, and AT&T and Verizon "simply don't have the strong balance sheets many believe them to have."