Ohio’s Wright Brothers first accomplished winged flight in 1903. 66 years later, Ohio’s Neil Armstrong first walked the moon’s surface. That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind, he radioed back via satellite. Tack on another 45 years. Numerous commercial satellite businesses transmit profits into investor portfolios. These technical accomplishments spanning the 20th century are so grand in scale, they defy the very gravity believed to weigh on their possibilities.

Satellite communication hasn’t become a global industry without more than its fair share of earnings crashes and unprofitable business models. Yet, very successful satellite communication companies can provide lift to an investor’s portfolio in ways never imagined.

Wireless connectivity and content delivery is the rocket fuel behind this momentum. Satellites transmit digitized information and ignore borders. They work for those who need fresh content worldwide, and are willing to pay for it, worldwide. As better satellite-receiving technology finds its way into more and more consumer devices, possibilities expand — and broaden any successful satellite company’s revenue footprint.

The SATELLITE COMMUNICATION industry of the Zacks Industry Rank list gained 17 positions last week, rising on the back of three key upward analyst revisions. This industry category of 10 companies now holds a very high rank of #10 out of 265 Zacks Industry Rank groups. With 3 positive earnings estimate analyst revisions compared to only 1 negative revision, the overall upward industry trajectory has fueled the potential for huge positive Earnings per Share (EPS) surprises.

The two following companies hold a current Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) rating, up from #2 ranks a week ago. Acquiring a rank from a Buy (Zacks Rank #2) to a Strong Buy (Zacks Rank #1) is essential. High Zacks Ranks foretell outperformance of a stock for 1 to 3 months in response to future positive earnings estimate revisions.

Keep such broad industry trends on your radar. They can be pivotal in understanding the orbit of future shareholder value. These two companies also garnered a longer-term Zacks Recommendation of Outperform. That can foretell more outperformance out to 6 months or more.

While forward P/E valuations may be sky high these days, history tells us the sky is certainly not the limit.

SATS is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It has a Zacks Outperform rating too. SATS’s most recent earning’s surprise was 133%.

EchoStar Corp. is a publicly traded company. The company operates two primary businesses, a digital set-top box business and a fixed satellite services business. Their set-top box business designs, develops and distributes set-top boxes and related products for direct-to-home satellite service providers.

Management reports quarterly earnings on August 5, 2014.

DGI is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It has a Zacks Outperform rating too. DGI’s most recent Q1-14 earnings surprise was +86%. Management has delivered earnings surprises between +22 and +700% for nine straight quarters!

DigitalGlobe, Inc. is a global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, the company operates as a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley & Company Inc.

DigitalGlobe operates a constellation of high resolution earth imaging satellites, possesses a growing aerial imagery network and offers a comprehensive geoinformation product store — DigitalGlobe.com — that allows quick access and order a wide variety of imagery and derivative information products.

DigitalGlobe conducts its business through two segments: defense and intelligence, and commercial. The company’s products include DigitalGlobe System, QuickBird satellite, ImageAtlas; and GlobeXplorer. DigitalGlobe System offers collection and archival of geospatial information data and QuickBird satellite, which provides commercial resolution imaging systems.

Management reports quarterly earnings on August 5, 2014, the same day as Echostar.

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