Media

Sirius XM Posts Decent Earnings, but Shareholders Are Not Enthused

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) released its first-quarter financial results Tuesday before the markets opened. The satellite radio company had $0.02 in earnings per share (EPS) on $1.08 billion in revenue. That compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.03 in EPS on revenue of $1.09 billion. In the same period of last year, Sirius posted EPS of $0.02 on $997.71 million in revenue.

The company updated its guidance for the 2015 year. The company expects revenue to be approximately $4.47 billion, as well as free cash flow of $1.25 billion and net subscriber additions of 1.4 million. The consensus estimates are $0.12 in EPS on $4.49 billion in revenue.

During the first quarter, the company repurchased 144 million shares for $534 million. With growing free cash flow, the placement of $1 billion of 5.375% senior notes in March and $1.25 billion of unused revolver capacity, Sirius has plenty of liquidity to continue returning capital to shareholders.

In just over two years since the company began its capital return program with a special dividend, it has paid its shareholders nearly $5.3 billion and retired nearly 22% of its then outstanding shares.

ALSO READ: Will ESPN Lawsuit Against Verizon Declare Winner in Streaming Digital Sector?

Sirius reported an average revenue per user of $12.26 for the first quarter of 2015.

The company also added 431,000 net new subscribers in the first quarter, a 61% increase from the 267,000 net new subscribers in the same period of the previous year. Self-pay net subscriber additions were 394,000 in the first quarter, compared to 173,000 in the same quarter last year.

Jim Meyer, CEO of Sirius, said:

The year is off to a fantastic start at SiriusXM. We are increasing our subscriber guidance to approximately 1.4 million net additions and revenue guidance to approximately $4.47 billion after reporting our best first quarter for self-pay subscriber additions since 2008. Our results demonstrate that SiriusXM’s bundle of live news and sports, exclusive talk and comedy, and curated, commercial-free music is resonating with more and more consumers every day.

At the end of the first quarter, Sirius had about $482 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $147.7 million at the end of December 2014.

Shares of Sirius closed Monday down 0.4% at $3.95. After the report was released, shares were down 0.5% at $3.93 in premarket trading. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $4.38 and a 52-week trading range of $3.00 to $4.04.

ALSO READ: 8 Analyst Stock Picks Under $10 With Massive Upside Targets

Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.