What Has Boosted Shares of Sirius XM and Pandora

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Jan 13, 4:00PM EST · Published Dec 17, 7:20AM EST

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What Has Boosted Shares of Sirius XM and Pandora — © Thinkstock

Shareholders have seen some nice pre-Christmas gains in Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), but for very different reasons.

On Wednesday the Copyright Royalty Board raised the amount that Internet music streaming services like Pandora must pay to record labels going forward. The panel of copyright judges set the rate for free streaming services to 17 cents per hundred plays, which is up from 14 cents. For paid subscription services, the rate fell from 25 cents to 22. Both rates will rise with inflation through 2020, as the decision sets rates for non-interactive services like Pandora, iHeart Radio and SiriusXM for the next five years.

Pandora hailed the ruling as “balanced” and CEO Brian McAndrews said in a statement that the increase was one the company “can work with and grow from.”

Tuesday morning, SiriusXM announced that Howard Stern had signed an agreement to continue his satellite radio show for another five years. As part of the deal, Sirius and Stern also signed a 12-year deal that licenses to the satellite radio firm Stern’s audio and video library built up over a 30-year career.
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There were rumors that Stern would move to Apple Music or Netflix, or even produce his own podcasts, instead of continuing with SiriusXM. But the satellite radio company needs him a lot more than he needs them, and so the deal got done.

Shares of Pandora rose almost 21% in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $16.25. Their 52-week range is $11.39 to $22.60, and the analysts’ consensus price target is $18.76.

SiriusXM shares popped more than 3% on news of the deal, ending a recent slide in the stock. Shares closed at $4.09 on Wednesday and were down fractionally in Thursday’s premarket. They have traded between $3.31 and $4.20 in the past year, and the consensus target price is $4.70.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.