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Technology Stocks : XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (257)	1/24/2002 2:18:41 PM
From: kensusman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3386

Earnings announcement: 27K subscribers by the end of December. Stock price rose today. I'd have thought anything less than 40K subscribers would have been viewed as disappointing. KS Xm Satellite Loss Widens But Subscribers Grow January 24, 2002 13:27:21 (ET) CHICAGO (Reuters) - Satellite radio company XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR,Trade) on Thursday said its net loss widened in the fourth quarter, but it had added nearly 28,000 subscribers after launching its 100-channel radio service nationwide in November. The Washington-based firm also told analysts in a conference call that it was comfortable with the lower end of analysts' year-end subscriber estimates. XM said it expects to have 70,000 subscribers by the end of the first quarter, 130,000 by the end of the second quarter and 350,000 by the end of 2002. XM had signed up 27,733 subscribers at the end of December. Shares of XM rose 77 cents, or 5.45 percent, to $14.91 on Nasdaq in midday trade. The stock has more than doubled in value since XM launched its service nationwide on Nov. 12. Hugh Panero, chief executive of XM, said he expected satellite radio sales patterns to fall in line with that of other consumer electronics products with slower sales in the first quarter, improving sales in the second and third quarters, and strongest sales in the fourth quarter. For the fourth quarter, the company said its net loss widened to $144 million, from $14 million. Its loss applicable to common shareholders was $149.8 million, or $2.26 per share, compared with $19.8 million, or 40 cents a share. Costs increased in the fourth quarter for content and programming, customer care and billing, network, sales and marketing. XM's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss also widened to $113.3 million, including a one time charge of $26.3 million, from $19.3 million a year ago. Lehman Brothers was expecting the company to report an EBITDA loss of $75.5 million. EBITDA is an important measure of a company's health in capital intensive businesses like satellite radio. Revenues were $532,000, exceeding Lehman Brothers estimate of $413,000. A year-ago comparison was unavailable since XM did not launch its product nationally until last fall. XM also said it currently had enough cash to operate its business through the end of the year. The company said 60 percent of satellite radios in the fourth quarter were sold by consumer electronics retailers Circuit City Stores (CC,Trade) and Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY,Trade), but that share would decrease as it expanded its retail channels. It said its radios were available in 3,500 retail stores at the end of December. Radios are now available in about 4,500 stores. XM confirmed that it plans to make products available in 6,000 retail stores by the end of the first quarter. While there were reports of shortages in some stores across the country in December, XM said it ended the year with 100,000 radios on store shelves. Its radio manufacturer partners like Pioneer Corp. ((6773.T)) and Sony Corp. ((6758.T)) expect to have a combined capacity to produce 50,000 units by April. The company said buyers of XM satellite radios spanned all age groups but were concentrated in urban areas. It also said 90 percent of its customers elected to be billed through their credit cards and 75 percent chose quarterly billing in advance. Only 5 percent of its customers requested monthly billing. XM Satellite posted a full year net loss of $284.4 million compared with $51.9 million last year. Its full year loss applicable to common shareholders widened to $307.5 million, or $5.13 a share, from $201.3 million, or $4.15 a share a year ago. © Copyright 2001 Reuters. Click Here for Limitations and Restrictions on Use.