Sirius XM Reports Record Revenue, Aided by Auto Recovery

The satellite-radio provider had $283 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, up 19 percent from the same period a year ago.

But while the pace of Netflix’s subscriber growth worried investors, Sirius has continued to grow quickly, sped along by the recovery in car sales. Sirius reported 25.1 million subscribers, up 716,000 from the same period last year, and the company increased its guidance for the full year, saying that it expected to add 1.5 million subscribers and have more than $3.7 billion in revenue. Shares of Sirius were up a little more than 1 percent in the early afternoon on Thursday.

“The wind has certainly been at our backs with increasing auto sales, and we expect that to continue for the rest of the year,” James E. Meyer, the chief executive, said in an conference call with investors and analysts. Mr. Meyer replaced Mel Karmazin, Sirius’s longtime chief executive, in December.

Mr. Meyer said that there are 54.5 million automobiles in operation with Sirius installed, and that he expected the number to rise to 100 million by the end of 2017.

Sirius also fared well with two particular measurements that investors have paid close attention to. Its “churn” rate, a measurement of customer turnover, has lately hovered around 2 percent, but for the second quarter it dropped to 1.7 percent, meaning that fewer customers were canceling subscriptions.

The number of “self-pay” subscriptions — as opposed to those with trial subscriptions subsidized by automakers — also grew in the second quarter to a high of 20.3 million, up 9 percent from last year. Subscriptions to the satellite radio service start at about $15 a month.

Sirius’s stock has jumped more than 75 percent in the last year, driven by the company’s improved performance as well as the company’s takeover last year by Liberty Media, which has suggested that it may sell the company or combine it with another of its holdings. This year, Sirius has also completed $1.3 billion of a planned $2 billion stock repurchase plan.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/business/media/sirius-xm-reports-record-revenue-aided-by-auto-recovery.html?partner=rss&emc=rss