Hot stock to watch: Satellite radio operator Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) on Monday raised its expectation on fiscal year 2012 revenue, given that its user base will grow faster than expected. Sirius plans to release the second quarter results on August 7.
The company currently expects to realize full-year revenue will be close to $3.4 billion, higher than the previous forecast of $3.3 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research averagely expected the company’s annual revenue would reach $3.36 billion.
The company expects subscribers will increase close to 1.6 million in this fiscal year, higher than previously expected 1.5 million.
In the second quarter of this year, users increased by 622,042, up 38% versus 452,147 a year earlier. In the first half of this year, the company’s additional new users were more than 1 million; as of the end of June this year, the total number of users had reached more than 22.90 million.
Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet reiterated the rating “Buy” on this stock and raised the 2012 revenue forecast from $339 million to $ 34 million.
SIRI stock price rose 1.47%, or $0.03, to end at $2.08 Monday, on volume of 49.09 million shares versus a daily average of 34.60 million shares. Over the past 52 week, SIRI stock price fluctuated between $1.27 and $2.41. The current SIRI stock price is above the 50-day moving average of $1.98 and the 200-day moving average of $1.97. Sirius XM Radio has a market cap of $7.89 billion.