Analyst: XM Outperforming Sirius In Retail Sales

Another note today on the satellite radio stocks, this time from Chad Bartley of Pacific Crest Securities. Bartley wrote today that he surveyed about 20 Best Buy and Circuit City stores during the post-Thanksgiving shopping period and found mixed results. He said shelf space has improved from before the holiday period, with spot shortages of some products such as the Sirius (SIRI) Stilleto and XM products (XMSR). He also said that “shopper demand appeared to be flat to down compared with last year.”

Bartley said his checks were “a modest positive for XM,” asserting that the company’s retail share is stable and “may be increasing slightly,” due to strong demand for its portable devices, including the Pioneer Inno andSamsung Nexus, and attractive pricing. He added that “the sentiment of salespeople seemed to be incrementally more positive for XM than during previous checks this year.”

Bartley says his checks of retail stores and online retailers increase his concern that fourth quarter expectations for Sirius are “too high.” Sirius has guided to 1.18 million net subscriber addition in the quarter, versus 1.14 million a year ago; his own estimate is for 1.06 million.

In today’s trading, XM fell 16 cents to $14.28; Sirius gained 5 cents to $4.17.

Comments

[Stan Ross:]

This is thesullster from Motley Fool CAPS, and I say it doesn't matter. It doesn't. Both Sirius and XM can co-exist. The market is being created and is big enough. Call it a hunch. Hah!

2006 Nov 29 08:08 AM