No. of Recommendations: 8
And Starlink. EBITDA seems off for measuring a service based on satellites being inexorable drawn into a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere. That feels like a very inflexible form of depreciation.
And in fairly short order too. Starlink satellites have a lifespan of 3-5 years.
EBITDA can be useful for comparing two companies with different tax jurisdiction and leverage decisions, and in some industries (like commercial real estate) depreciation can be kind of phony. But as you point out, depreciation for Starlink satellites is about as real as it gets. The numbers I'd like to see are the operating cash flow and return on equity.
SpaceX estimated the TAM for their services at $28 trillion. Which is roughly 20% of the global economy. They get an A for optimism, no doubt.
