SIRIUS XM (SIRI) Q3 Earnings & Revenues Surpass Estimates

SIRIUS XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) reported third-quarter 2017 financial numbers, wherein both the top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Earnings of 6 cents per share exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 4 cents. The bottom line also soared 50% from the year-ago figure.

Total revenue of $1,379.6 million climbed nearly 8% year over year and also outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,363.8 million.

Quarterly total operating expenses were $945.63 million, up 6.8% year over year. SIRIUS XM posted record third-quarter adjusted EBITDA growth of 12% year over year to $551 million. The company’s average revenue per user increased 3% year over year to $13.41 in the third quarter.

At the end of the third quarter, SIRIUS XM had $521.23 million of cash from operations compared with $421.82 million in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly free cash flow was $433.79 million compared with $356.53 million in the year-ago quarter.

At the end of the quarter under review, SIRIUS XM had nearly $73.55 million of cash and cash equivalents and $6,728.35 million of long-term debt compared with $213.94 million and $5,842.76 million respectively, at the end of 2016. During the reported quarter, the company repurchased 39 million shares for $211 million. It shelled out approximately $308 million to complete the Pandora (NYSE:P) investment. The company’s board also approved a 10% hike in quarterly dividend in the third quarter.

Segment Wise Results

Quarterly subscriber revenues totaled $1,136.03 million compared with $1,069.75 million in the prior-year quarter. Advertising revenues were $41.46 million compared with $34.27 million a year ago. Equipment revenues were $32.34 million compared with $31.31 million in the year-earlier quarter. Other revenues grossed $169.78 million in the quarter compared with $142.33 million in third-quarter 2016.

Subscriber Statistics

In the third quarter, SIRIUS XM added 119,000 net new subscribers. As a result, the total subscriber tally was up 4% year over year to 32.17 million as of Sep 30, 2017 for this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Payment category wise, Self-Pay subscriber count grew 6% year over year, while Paid Promotional customer count was down 5% year over year.

2017 Guidance

The company anticipates 1.4 million net new subscriber addition in 2017, unchanged from its previous prediction. It expects revenues of approximately $5.4 billion in 2017, slightly higher than its previous expectation of $5.37 billion. Adjusted EBITDA guidance is expected to be around $2.1 billion (previous guidance: $2.05 billion). Free cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.54 billion (previous outlook: $1.5 billion).

Upcoming Releases

Investors interested in the broader Consumer Discretionary sector are keenly awaiting earnings results from key players like Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA) and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) . While Discovery will report third-quarter earnings on Nov 2, Viacom will report fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings on Nov 16.

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