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Technology Stocks : Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sixty2nds who wrote (3480)	1/5/2006 1:43:07 PM
From: sixty2nds	Respond to of 8420

10:05 NVLS Novellus upgraded to Buy at Caris (25.19 +0.36) Caris upgraded NVLS to Buy from Above Average saying they presume higher estimates later in 2006 but would focus on the likelihood for upside order rates in the near to intermediate term.

To: sixty2nds who wrote (3480)	1/5/2006 4:32:58 PM
From: rrufff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8420

Yikes - not a good day, week, month, year, two years to be an XMSR tout. 09:34 XMSR XM Satellite: Color on subsciber numbers (27.05 -0.79) -Update- Morgan Joseph notes that last night, XMSR announced that it ended 2005 with 5.933 mln subscribers. They say this was weaker than the co's earlier guidance of more than 6.0 mln subscribers and their estimate of 6.139 mln subscribers. They believe the disappointment was due in large part to the competition with SIRI and its introduction of Howard Stern in 2006, and general weakness in the OEM distribution network. They also believe GM's problems have become XMSR's. They note that SIRI announced its year-end results this morning, and say Sirius generated more net new subscribers during 4Q05 (1.142 mln for Sirius compared to roughly 900,000 for XM). Firm expects XMSR to sell-off on the news to around the mid-$25.00 per share level -- they would use this as a buying opportunity, given our belief that the business will remain robust in 2006.

To: sixty2nds who wrote (3480)	1/5/2006 6:09:47 PM
From: Sirius_Rich	Respond to of 8420

>>>They also believe GM's problems have become XMSR's. GM Official Regrets Employee Discounting By GINA CHON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL January 5, 2006 4:05 p.m. General Motors Corp.'s top North American sales and marketing executive, Mark LaNeve, said he now regrets launching the employee-discount program that drove GM sales to record levels last summer, and doesn't plan to repeat such promotions this year. Instead, Mr. LaNeve said in a recent interview that GM will roll back prices, and try to emphasize the advantages of its new models. Mr. LaNeve declined to say how much GM would lower prices compared to Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other car makers, but he said the sticker prices would be aggressive." The first indicator of how low GM tends to go will be in the pricing for the new Chevrolet Tahoe, which will be announced next week during the Detroit auto show. The current base model has a starting price of $34,990. "In some ways we are turning back the clock," said Mr. LaNeve, vice president for GM North American vehicle sales and marketing, in an interview just before GM's year-end holiday break. "The Japanese made their mark by making good products at a lower price. So to some extent, we are going to underprice them." Mr. LaNeve said the employee-discount promotion, which GM began last June, was very efficient in moving vehicles. Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group soon followed with their own programs in July. But after the program ended three months later, sales dipped and hit a low in October, when sales fell by 26%. The payback from the summer sales bonanza was compounded by high gasoline prices because of Hurricane Katrina, which drove down sales of sport-utility vehicles. The employee-discount program also caused the Detroit auto maker to focus its advertising messages on the sales promotion, instead of highlighting product attributes and its effort to reduce base prices on certain models. "Hindsight being 20/20, I probably wouldn't have done it," Mr. LaNeve said. GM intends to kick off an aggressive product message in 2006 to talk about quality and value. GM plans what Mr. LaNeve describes as a "straightforward message on competitiveness, price advantages." In some cases, that will mean calling out specific competitors, like Toyota and Ford, sometimes on a model-by-model basis. This year is critical for GM, which is launching 19 new products, including five full-size SUVs, two full-size pickup trucks and a handful of new smaller SUVs, known as crossovers. "Our comeback has to be fueled by great products," Mr. LaNeve said. "There has been no comeback in our industry that hasn't been fueled by great products." Aside from trying to stop its market-share slide, which was at 26% for 2005, Mr. LaNeve is looking at addressing the perceptual gloom surrounding the company. There are rumors that GM will file for bankruptcy-court protection. Analysts say GM produces cars that nobody wants to buy. And some consumers who left GM in the 1980s still refuse to return. "We've got to get our mojo back in terms of the way we are viewed," he said. "But I don't know what the answer is. How do we get America rooting for us?" -------------------------------------------- How long before XM officials regret Q4 hardware freebies and friends and family discounts?