This was a week of two very different tapes. The carriers quietly outperformed, with AT&T and Verizon both closing higher on storm response, spectrum digestion and steady subscriber news, while the hardware side of connectivity took a beating that had almost nothing to do with company fundamentals. Semtech, Digi International and Netgear each fell 11 percent to 13 percent on the week without a single fresh guidance cut between them, caught in a mid-August repricing of AI infrastructure and communications equipment names layered on top of a very real cost story: AI-driven memory inflation is now showing up in device makers’ gross margins. In satellite, the independents kept getting bought, and the stocks increasingly trade on deal spreads rather than fundamentals, while SpaceX’s staggered lockup calendar continued to set the tone for the entire complex.
Weekly performance
Prices reflect the August 21, 2026 close. Weekly change compares against the August 14, 2026 close.
US Carriers
| Company | Latest price | Weekly change |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T (T) | $25.31 | +1.7% |
| Verizon (VZ) | $49.45 | +2.0% |
| T-Mobile US (TMUS) | $183.04 | +0.2% |
Router & Equipment Makers
| Company | Latest price | Weekly change |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco (CSCO) | $111.04 | down 0.6% |
| Ericsson (ERIC) | $10.22 | down 0.5% |
| Plover Bay (1523.HK) | HK$7.33 | down 3.6% |
| Inseego (INSG) | $4.39 | down 6.4% |
| Semtech (SMTC) | $124.09 | down 11.6% |
| Digi International (DGII) | $74.91 | down 12.0% |
| Netgear (NTGR) | $21.02 | down 12.9% |
Satellite & Emerging
| Company | Latest price | Weekly change |
|---|---|---|
| Globalstar (GSAT) | $82.36 | flat |
| SpaceX (SPCX) | $136.97 | down 2.2% |
| Iridium (IRDM) | $48.98 | down 2.4% |
| AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) | $68.65 | down 3.3% |
| EchoStar (ECHO) | $86.81 | down 5.5% |
| Viasat (VSAT) | $74.72 | down 9.8% |
Stories behind the moves
US Carriers
Hurricane Lala dominated carrier operations. Verizon waived domestic call, text and data charges across Hawaii through August 31, flew in disaster response engineers, and added a $15,000 grant to the Hawai’i Community Foundation on August 19 as restoration wrapped up. T-Mobile ran a parallel effort, activating T-Satellite for network recovery and community support across the islands. AT&T’s news was commercial rather than operational: the USTA named it Official Connectivity Provider of the US Open under a new five-year deal covering the neutral-host DAS at Arthur Ashe Stadium and grounds-wide ticket scanning, hotspots and backup phones. Separately, Verizon’s sale of 274 corporate retail stores to franchise dealers took effect August 16, part of the roughly 3,000 job cuts announced in July.
Router & Equipment Makers
The three double-digit decliners all fell for the same reason, and it was not a fresh company disaster. Semtech dropped roughly 12 percent on August 19 in a broad chip and AI-infrastructure selloff after a huge summer run, and its actual company news was positive: on August 13 it signed a definitive agreement to sell the Sierra Wireless-derived cellular module business to Compal Electronics for $62 million cash, a deal analysts expect to push gross margins above 60 percent. Semtech reports fiscal Q2 FY2027 on August 25, which is the real next catalyst. Digi International’s slide is momentum unwind after a strong August 5 earnings report (revenue $138.7 million, up 29 percent, ARR $191 million, up 52 percent, and raised FY26 guidance); it fell 5.8 percent on August 19 alongside other communications equipment names with no company-specific news. Netgear is still working off its August 6 quarter, where consumer gross margin fell 210 basis points on rising memory costs and management warned of roughly 200 basis points of combined gross margin headwind in the second half. Notably, Netgear’s enterprise business is now more than half of revenue at a 54.1 percent gross margin. Cisco was quiet post-earnings, digesting a record Q4 that included $4 billion of hyperscaler AI orders in the quarter. Ericsson and Peplink parent Plover Bay had no material news; Plover Bay’s interim dividend is payable August 25.
Satellite & Emerging
Consolidation is the story. Globalstar confirmed successful launch and orbital insertion of all eight HIBLEO-4 replacement satellites on August 16, satisfying a contractual condition of Amazon’s $11.57 billion acquisition, and then got downgraded to Hold by Craig-Hallum precisely because the deal is on track and the arbitrage spread has compressed. Iridium now trades largely as a merger-arb proxy after the $5.9 billion Rocket Lab acquisition cleared HSR review on August 12. AST SpaceMobile received a 30-day FCC special temporary authority for non-commercial direct-to-device testing on up to 100 handsets, the last regulatory step before AT&T and Verizon beta service, though post-earnings price target cuts kept the stock lower. EchoStar slipped as Judge Christopher Lopez signaled that litigating tower company claims would push Dish Wireless’s plan-confirmation hearing from November 12 to December 2. Viasat was the week’s worst performer despite winning a Rocket Lab contract on August 17 to build the Lightning-GEO bus for its Space Force anti-jam satellite, a pure valuation reset after a roughly 204 percent 12-month run. SpaceX fell as its second post-IPO lockup tranche expired on August 20, freeing roughly 319 million additional shares, partly offset by first-time 13F filings revealing Alphabet, Fidelity and Nvidia as major holders.
Starlink and Amazon Leo
SpaceX flew its 100th mission of 2026 on August 18, pushing the Starlink constellation past 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, and launched another 29 satellites on August 20 from Cape Canaveral. Starlink now serves roughly 12 million subscribers. Amazon Leo had no notable news this week. Its nearest milestones sit just outside the window: 396 satellites on orbit after the final Atlas V launch on July 2, and a Vulcan wet dress rehearsal on August 6 ahead of the first Leo Vulcan flight now targeted for September. Commercial service is still guided only to “later this year.”
5Gstore Take
The signal we care about most this week is memory cost inflation. When Netgear quantifies a 200 basis point gross margin headwind and Ericsson and Nokia flag the same DRAM squeeze, that eventually reaches street pricing on routers and gateways. If you have a refresh or a multi-site rollout planned for late 2026, this is a reasonable quarter to lock in pricing rather than wait. The second signal is that the satellite backhaul and failover market is consolidating fast, which is good for long-term service quality but means fewer independent vendors to negotiate against.
On the equipment side, the fundamentals under these stocks remain solid even when the tape is not. Digi’s ARR grew 52 percent. Netgear’s enterprise segment is carrying the company. Semtech is shedding a low-margin module business to focus on higher-value silicon. None of that suggests a product problem for the gear our customers actually deploy.
We stock and support all of these platforms: Peplink, Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless and Semtech, Inseego, Digi, Teltonika and Katalyst. If you want help mapping a carrier, router and satellite failover strategy to your actual sites and budget, contact our team and we will walk through it with you.
FAQ
Why did Semtech, Digi and Netgear all fall double digits in the same week?
Sector rotation, not company news. Communications equipment and AI-infrastructure names sold off together in the middle of August. Netgear is the one with a genuine company-level cost issue, and that dates to its August 6 earnings report, not this week.
Is rising memory cost going to raise router prices?
It already is raising manufacturer costs. Netgear has quantified roughly 200 basis points of gross margin pressure for the second half of 2026 from memory and logistics. Whether that reaches list pricing depends on the vendor and the product line, but it is a real headwind.
Why is Globalstar flat when it just had good news?
Because it is being acquired by Amazon for $11.57 billion. Once a deal looks likely to close, the stock trades near the deal price and stops responding much to operational news. Craig-Hallum downgraded it for exactly that reason.
What is SPCX and why does it move the whole sector?
SPCX is SpaceX, listed on Nasdaq since June 12, 2026. Its post-IPO lockup expirations are staggered through December 8, so each tranche adds a known, scheduled block of supply. Because SpaceX now dominates space-sector sentiment, those unlocks pull on the entire group.
Does any of this change what I should buy for my sites?
Not directly. Stock prices reflect investor positioning, not product roadmaps. Choose gear based on carrier support, throughput, management platform and failover requirements. Reach out if you want a second opinion on a specific configuration.
Disclaimer
This post is informational market commentary from 5Gstore and is not investment advice. We are not licensed financial advisors, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Prices reflect the latest available quotes at the time of writing and may differ from your broker’s data. Verify figures independently before making any financial decision.
Selected sources: Semtech divestiture announcement, Globalstar HIBLEO-4 launch confirmation, AST SpaceMobile direct-to-device testing authority, SpaceX lockup expiration coverage.
About the Author
Michael Ginsberg is the founder of 5Gstore.com, a trusted source for cellular routers and failover networking solutions since 2005. With a background in software and networking dating back to 1988, he writes about cellular connectivity, IoT infrastructure, network security, and fleet management. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or reach the 5Gstore team through our contact page.
