Earnings: SIRI Triples Subs; More Than Doubles Losses; Will Stream Stern

Boosted by Howard Stern’s presence, Sirius added 761,187 net subs in 1Q06 for a total of 4.07 million subs. At the same time, as is usually the case during this extended ramp up for satellite radio, financial losses increased. Sirius reported a net loss of $458.5 million, or 33 cents per share, for 1Q06, compared to a net loss of $193.6 million, or 15 cents per share for the same quarter last year. Revenues rose to $126.7 million, up 193 percent from $43.2 million in the same quarter last year.
Programming and content costs more than doubled to $56.4 million from $24.2 million last year. Also up, subscriber acquisition costs to $109 million from $67 million; the cost per sub, though, decreased to $113 from $190. Also of note:
– “Advertising revenue increased to a record $7.3 million, representing 53 percent of total satellite radio industry advertising revenue in the first quarter.” Ad revenue accounted for an additional 65 cents to average monthly per sub revenue.
– While the bulk of the net subs came through retail outlets, auto is starting to add up with 225,343 net auto OEM subs, up from 107,855 in 1Q05.
From the earnings call (via SeekingAlpha.com transcript ): CEO Mel Karmazin says the company still expects $1 billion in revenue in 2007 and tried to nudge views far forward by talking up projected revenues of approximately $3 billion and free cash flow of about $1 billion in 2010.
– Karmazin: “We also anticipate that we will be streaming the Howard Stern show via the Internet to Sirius subscribers before Father’s Day. We believe this will be another catalyst for Sirius to get new subscribers who will find listening online in their office, home or dorm to be an additional incentive to subscribe.” It also could help sales of the upcoming, expensive combo live receiver-mp3 player.
Earnings release | Webcast