Dish Looks Less Attractive As Acquisition Target Following $6.2 Bln Spectrum Buy; Shares Fall

Shares of Dish Network Corp. fell nearly 6% intraday on Monday as analysts began speculating that Dish looked less attractive as an acquisition target after the telecom company spent $6.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission broadcast spectrum auction last week. Dish was among the highest spenders during the auction, along with T-Mobile US Inc. and Comcast Corp. . Analysts at J.P. Morgan wrote that a bid for Dish by Verizon Communications Inc. , which had been speculated about before, was less likely following Dish's $6.2 billion spectrum spend. "Verizon neither needs nor wants more low-band spectrum," lead J.P. Morgan analyst Philip Cusick wrote in a note to clients. "This purchase does set up Dish as a one-stop-shop for low, mid, and high band auction were an internet or technology player need that to get into the wireless market, though we find this unlikely." Shares of Dish have gained 2% in the year to date and are up more than 32% in the last 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up nearly 5% in the year and nearly 13% over the last 12 months.