Media

Can Sirius XM Get It Together in 2019?

Chris Lange

Published: January 9, 2019 1:20 pm

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 2:19 am

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares dropped on Wednesday after the firm announced its 2018 numbers and guidance for the 2019 full year.

The satellite radio company said that it added 1.4 million self-pay subscribers to finish 2018 with roughly 28.9 million self-pay subscribers, exceeding the company’s initial 2018 guidance by about 40%. Total net subscriber additions in 2018 were about 1.3 million, resulting in total paid subscribers of about 34 million at year’s end.

The firm also said that it expects to close the Pandora transaction shortly, following the Pandora stockholder meeting scheduled for late this month.

Looking ahead to guidance in 2019, the company expects to see the following:

• SiriusXM self-pay net additions approaching 1 million,
• Total revenue of approximately $6.1 billion,
• Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.3 billion, and
• Free cash flow of approximately $1.6 billion.

Consensus estimates call for $0.06 in earnings per share (EPS) and $1.48 billion in revenue for the 2019 full year.

Jim Meyer, Sirius’s CEO, commented:

I’m proud to report that 2018 was not only another year of operational excellence at SiriusXM, with record high subscribers, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA. Last year also saw SiriusXM achieve important milestones, like the introduction of 360L and significant improvements in our smartphone apps and IP distribution on connected devices. We attained a record 40% adjusted EBITDA margin in the third quarter, saw our efforts in connected vehicle services bear fruit and, of course, we were extremely pleased to reach an agreement to acquire Pandora Media.

Shares of Sirius were last seen down more than 5% at $6.01, with a consensus analyst price target of $6.93. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $5.35 to $7.70.