ATEX — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

A $0.2 million profit that rests on a $10.7 million paper gain

Anterix owns most of the licensed 900 MHz radio spectrum in the US — a slice of airwaves (the frequencies between 896–901 and 935–940 MHz) that electric utilities use to build private wireless networks: their own LTE networks for smart meters, grid sensors and field crews, separate from the public cellular networks. Anterix makes money by leasing or selling that spectrum to utilities, after first "clearing" it (paying existing users of the band to move or retune their radios).

A note on dates: Anterix's fiscal year ends March 31, so the three months ended June 30, 2026 are its first quarter of fiscal 2027. We file it here as calendar Q2 2026. Figures come from the 10-Q filed August 11, 2026.

The quarter's headline number — net income of $0.24 million, or $0.01 a share — is barely positive, and it is only positive because of a one-time accounting gain. Revenue was $1.96 million against $12.86 million of operating expenses. What turned that gap into a break-even result was a $10.7 million non-cash gain from swapping old narrowband licenses for new broadband ones in six counties. A year ago the same kind of gain was $33.9 million (62 counties), which is why last year's quarter showed $25.2 million of profit.

At a glance

• Revenue rose 38% to $1.96 million, almost all of it slow, scheduled recognition of payments utilities made years ago (Xcel Energy $0.94M, TECO $0.43M, Evergy $0.39M, Ameren $0.21M).
• $15.7 million of customer cash came in, mostly a $13.8 million milestone payment from Ameren — but none of it shows up as revenue yet; it sits on the balance sheet as deferred revenue, now $174.9 million (up 36% from a year ago).
• Cash reached $116.0 million with no debt, up from $98.5 million in March — but $20.3 million of that increase came from employees exercising stock options, not from the business.

The numbers

n/m = not meaningful. Operating margin (the share of revenue left after running the business) is left out on purpose: the reported figure, -12.6%, compares a $0.25 million operating loss to $1.96 million of revenue, but that loss already has the $10.7 million license gain netted inside it. Without the gain, expenses were more than six times revenue. Last year's equivalent figure (operating income larger than revenue) is meaningless for the same reason. The net income and EPS declines are accurate but mostly measure how big the license-swap gain happened to be in each quarter, not how the business performed.

Why revenue is so small next to the cash coming in

Anterix's revenue line is deliberately slow. When a utility signs a lease (Ameren, Evergy, Xcel Energy, TECO), it prepays tens of millions of dollars, but under the accounting rules (ASC 606) Anterix books that as deferred revenue — money received for a service not yet delivered — and recognizes it a little at a time over 20–30 years, county by county as cleared spectrum is handed over. Xcel Energy's $80.0 million, 20-year deal, for example, produced $0.94 million of revenue this quarter.

Newer deals are sales rather than leases: CPS Energy ($13.0M, January 2026), Texas-New Mexico Power ($3.2M, March 2026), NorthWestern Energy ($7.7M, March 2026, 65 licenses) and Benton PUD in Washington ($0.8M, signed April 16, 2026). For a sale, revenue is booked in one lump when each county's broadband license is actually delivered. None of those licenses had been delivered by June 30, so these contracts added cash and deferred revenue but no revenue. When they do close, revenue will jump in whichever quarter the transfer happens — which is why year-over-year revenue comparisons for Anterix should be read with caution.

The 10-Q also moved $13.0 million of broadband licenses to "held for sale" because they belong to a county in a signed sale agreement expected to close within a year — a sign that at least one sale delivery is approaching.

What the headline numbers hide

• The profit is a non-cash gain. The $10.7 million "gain on exchange of intangible assets" arises because the FCC lets Anterix trade in its old narrowband licenses for new broadband licenses once a county is cleared. Anterix records the new license at $13.5 million and writes off the $2.9 million carrying value of the old ones; the difference is booked as profit. No cash changes hands, and the size depends on how many counties happen to convert in a quarter (6 this year vs 62 last year).
• Cash conversion looks fine on paper but isn't from operations. Operating cash flow was +$2.0 million against $0.2 million of net income, but that includes $13.7 million of net customer prepayments. Strip those out and day-to-day operations consumed roughly $11–12 million of cash. Spectrum clearing ate another $6.7 million (investing cash flow).
• The cash pile grew because of option exercises. Cash and restricted cash rose $15.3 million in the quarter; $20.3 million came from stock option exercises. Shares outstanding rose to 19.55 million from 18.91 million in March (+3.4%), so existing holders were diluted rather than bought back — there were no repurchases this quarter even with $226.7 million authorized.
• Costs are a bit lower, with one swing factor gone. General and administrative expense fell 8% to $9.6 million ($0.6 million less stock compensation, $0.3 million less headcount cost); last year's $0.6 million severance charge did not recur. Sales and support rose 28% to $1.9 million as the company added headcount and marketing. Stock compensation alone was $3.3 million.
• Tax swung from benefit to expense. A $0.4 million tax charge (25.3% effective rate) replaced last year's $2.3 million benefit, which the company attributes to state taxable income from customer milestone payments — another reason the EPS comparison flatters the decline.
• Obligations still ahead. Anterix estimates about $39.0 million of future payments to incumbents to acquire, retune or swap licenses, and it guarantees delivery to Xcel Energy with a maximum refund exposure of $66.5 million if it fails to deliver the remaining spectrum (deliveries run through 2029).
• No earlier read to check. This is the first Anterix report we have published, so there is no previous outlook to test against.

Takeaway: Ignore the $0.01 of EPS — it is an artifact of a license-swap gain. The numbers that matter are the $15.7 million of customer cash collected (versus $5.0 million a year ago) and the $174.9 million of deferred revenue waiting to be recognized; against that, the core business still spends roughly $9–10 million a quarter in cash costs while recognizing under $2 million of revenue.

Outlook

Anterix gives no revenue or earnings guidance. What management did state in its August 11 earnings release:

• About $33.1 million of contracted proceeds is still outstanding from signed customers, of which roughly $9.6 million is expected to be received during the rest of fiscal 2027 (July 2026–March 2027). The 10-Q itemizes, for example, $2.5 million still due from Ameren in the second half of 2026 and $4.0 million from Xcel Energy by mid-2028.
• Remaining performance obligations — revenue already under contract but not yet recognized — total $197.8 million, to be recognized over up to 30 years for leases or on license delivery for sales.
• Management says cash plus contracted proceeds will cover its obligations for at least the next 12 months, while warning it "may need to raise additional capital" to carry out its plans.
• After the quarter, the board approved a new share repurchase authorization of up to $250 million running to September 2029 (8-K, September 18, 2026), replacing the 2023 program that expired September 21, 2026 with $226.7 million unused.

Our read: with $116 million of cash, no debt, and roughly $11–12 million a quarter of underlying operating cash use plus clearing spend, Anterix has a multi-year runway, so near-term financing risk looks low. The real question is commercial: the last new lease in the filing's contract tables is TECO's $34.5 million deal from November 2023, and the four sale contracts signed since January 2026 range from $0.8 million to $13.0 million — well below Xcel's $80 million lease. The shift to selling spectrum outright pulls cash forward but also uses up the asset. The first sale deliveries — flagged by the $13.0 million of licenses now held for sale — should produce Anterix's first sizable revenue quarter under the new model; the number to watch after that is whether new contracts signed each quarter outpace the cash the business consumes. Until a larger utility deal is announced, reported profits will keep depending mostly on how many counties convert to broadband licenses in a given quarter.