EchoStar posts first-quarter loss

(Reuters) - Set-top-box and satellite services provider EchoStar Corp (SATS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) swung to a quarterly loss, hurt mainly by a drop in the number of equipments sold to Dish Network Corp (DISH.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

The company said revenue from equipments sold to Dish Network fell 14 percent from a year ago, as set-top-box unit sales fell 11 percent and average revenue per unit sold declined 13 percent.

Dish Network, which accounted for 86 percent of EchoStar's first-quarter revenue, posted a better-than-expected profit on Monday as it lost fewer subscribers than most Wall Street analysts had forecast.

For the first quarter, EchoStar reported a loss of $645,000, or 1 cent a share, compared with earnings of $5.7 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell about 14 percent to $479.5 million.

Two analysts on average were expecting earnings of 4 cents a share, before items, while one analyst was looking for revenue of $565.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares of the company were flat at $17.23 in afternoon trade Monday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan; Ratul Ray Chaudhuri)