I’m interested to hear who is still enrolling in the ESPP that has had abysmal performance and executives in the meantime are given stock for free and sell immediately. You’d think they would hold for market rebound, but employees are the ones with the skin in the game and holding the bag still. Sad.
21 replies (most recent on top)
Yep, told you so, you aggro-bulls here can eat my f'ing bag wahahahhaah. Best move ever was to avoid espp
Back to $16 today.
I told yall. July 31 was the top at 21! Yall bought ESPP at the exact top! Now just 2 days later, the stock has already dropped down to the 15% discount price. Next week yall will be underwater!
Correct. Vsat peaks at the bookends of the espp window, then tanks after earnings. Get out of the espp. Vsat is where money goes to die.
Unbelievable we’ll be getting ripped off buying ESPP shares around $20, and after it releases earnings it’ll probably go back to $11.
Short prior to the next launch.
I would short
Yawn. And all that means is there are a few uninformed buyers who think they're the ones with the super power to catch a falling kn--e. The reality is a large majority of VSAT owners are underwater on their stock stretching back 20 years. This problem is deeper than a few people/funds thinking this is the time to buy so we're good now. Viasat has uniquely destroyed much value over 20 years and there is no evidence leadership can recapture that. Will it go up from $16 to $17 or $18? It could but it would remain fragile, irrelevant, and still unworthy of investment.
Every single employee who has joined this train in the last 20 years has lost bigly. If you invested $1000 in VSAT 20 years ago you'd still have exactly $1000 today, but you'd have far less if you invested anytime in the past 10 years. In the meantime you missed out on 9% CAGR in the market, those $1000 should have been almost $6000 today. And if you're going to keep those $1000 in VSAT now, you should demand a return to make up for the last 20 years of stagnancy and for a competitive forward return. If I were to give VSAT 5 years from today to make me whole on those past 20 years and current with the market, it would need a CAGR of 54%. If I'm more patient and give management 10 years, that CAGR is 24%, but both scenarios would need to be higher CAGR if you invested 5 or 10 years ago where the losses are steeper. The magnitude of the VSAT hole in the ground is staggering In the face of StarLink and upcoming Kuiper dominance those types of returns Will. Not. Happen.
You may make a few % as the stock dawdles around, but the real losers are the employees for ESPP/RSU'ing over the years into the execu-bs dream. Sell as soon as you get them and plenty of better places to invest your money.
True. And all that means is there are a few uninformed buyers who think they're the ones with the super power to catch a falling kn--e. The reality is a large majority of VSAT owners are underwater on their stock ownership stretching back 20 years (employees, retail, and institutions). This problem is deeper than a few retirement funds thinking this is the time to buy so we're good now. Viasat has uniquely destroyed much value over 20 years and there is no evidence leadership can be recapture that. Will it go up from $15 to $17 or $18? It could but it would be fragile, irrelevant, and still unworthy of investment.
If you invested $1000 in VSAT 20 years ago you'd still have exactly $1000 today, congratulations. But in the meantime you missed out on 9% CAGR in the market, those $1000 should have been almost $6000 today. And if you're going to keep those $1000 in VSAT now, you should demand a return to make up for the last 20 years
of stagnancy and for a competitive forward return. If I were to give VSAT 5 years from today to make me whole on those past 20 years and current with the market, it would need a CAGR of 54%. If I'm still patient and say I'll give management 10 years, that CAGR is 24%, but both scenarios would need to be higher CAGR if you invested say 5 or 10 years ago when the losses were steeper. The magnitude of the VSAT hole in the ground is staggering. In the face of StarLink and Kuiper dominance it Will. Not. Happen.
I guess it's a long way of saying the retirement funds may make a few % as the stock dawdles around, but the real losers are the employees for ESPP/RSU'ing over the years into the execu-bs dream.
Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT – Free Report) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,886 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,897 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Viasat were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
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Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VSAT. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Viasat by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,145 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Viasat by 2.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 65,583 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Viasat by 20.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 64,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 10,747 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viasat by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 391,544 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,083,000 after acquiring an additional 4,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new stake in shares of Viasat during the 1st quarter worth approximately $244,000. Institutional investors own 86.05% of the company’s stock.
Still time to get in on the next ESPP cycle :)) I mean it could make money this cycle but that would be the first time in 6 years. even a blind man will stumble across a few nuts once in a while
This is hilarious. Viasat stock is rallying, and on the day that employees buy for ESPP, they will be buying at the top. Then it will start dropping and they will lose money again.
I sold all of mine and withdrew from the ESPP plan as soon as the voluntary reduction program was announced. My stocks lost 67% of their value in a year. I wanted to sell it 6 months ago. I am kicking myself for waiting as long as I did.
They should give out put options instead of calls.
Why don't they let us short the stock? That way our 401Ks can grow instead of shrink.
It's a great thing being one of the executives. It's like having a money machine.
The executives are incompetent but they are not stupid. Why would they make open market buy with their own money??
@beh+1tjGodY7 Has a good position. Why does Guru need to sell to pay taxes, like anyway? He's been an exec before and presumably has made real money. Successful execs have the money to pay taxes without selling shares. Would have been a better signal to hold on all the shares, he shouldn't have tax cash flow constraints like the common-folk. But there in lies the issue, is he just not that successful that he's got cash flow constraints that lead to questionable decision making for an exec?
yawn, as noted in the fine print tax cover sales are elective and voluntary the timing of which can be executed during open windows without incurring tax disadvantages. Basically the tax man can get his cut anytime, doesn't have to be the moment it vests. The president with material non-public information shouldn't sell anything 10 days before a tu-d earnings release. He can vest then sell the day after earnings and still meet his tax obligations. Self preservation is a powerful thing.
So much misinformation on this site that I couldn’t withstand the stupidity any longer. Here’s the truth of the Guru’s stock sale… it was to fulfill his tax obligation exactly what the rest of people who receive RSUs do. Focus on reality, not the hype coming from random people on the internet.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/797721/000095017024059786/xslF345X05/ownership.xml
Yep, I'm one of those dudes though I stopped after the flight 1 antenna issue was made public. Deep into negative value territory. By the time the trading window opened, every ESPP had lost significant value, just so tired of playing that game when there are better places to invest. Building on your comments, I would like to see MD and exec leadership answer these questions in the next all hands, not the softball q's that get cherry picked from Slido so they are protected from a bad day. There needs to be a serious discussion on
- why aren't execs buying during open windows at historical lows if VS3 and D2D are really going to allow us to turn a corner
- when will you develop (in conjunction with the board) a program for execs to participate in open market buys regardless of trading window status
- does the VSAT investment thesis suffer a credibility gap when a notable exec sells during a blackout (even tax cover sales which inherently are voluntary and can be done anytime) and in particular sold while in possession of material non-public information prior to a poor earnings release
- as an employee owner I've lost an average of 60% of my value in RSU/ESPP stock over 8 years with some specific lots losing almost 90% of their value. Will you develop a repricing program for employees as such programs are sometimes utilized in other companies in similar situations