SocialPicks Monitor new  |    Stock Idea Community
SocialPicks
   Sign Up   |   Log In   |   What is SocialPicks?     
The Stock Idea & Analysis Community
SocialPicks is a community where stock investors exchange ideas and track performance of financial bloggers.
Top_member_photos
Get free stock picks and email alerts daily
 
Are you a stock guru?

7 pts

Opinion on  Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI)     Sector: Services  >  Industry: Broadcasting & Cable TV
Sirius XM = Long and Dominate!

Aug 16, 2008 07:11 PM UTC
Evil-monkey
Return Risk
-91.12% MID
Analyst

Sirius XM is the (only) satellite radio provider for the United States, providing 100% commercial free music to over 18 million subscribers, as well as sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic and weather. They have exclusive rights to a dizzying assortment of personalities, including Howard Stern, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Jimmy Buffet, Barbara Walters, Opie & Anthony and Willie Nelson, as well as being the official satellite radio partner to the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, NHL, PGA Tour and major college sports. They offer various other products that take advantage of their satellite capabilities, including Sirius Backseat TV and XM NavTraffic, and they have exclusive arrangements with every major automaker in the country.

THE BAD: Only recently merged, Sirius and XM were two separate companies never having made a profit, leaving the combined company wracked with debt. Although the merger will eventually save the company vast amounts of money, it will take years to fully iron out all the synergies, and in the beginning they may see an increase in costs from the necessary severance payments. It will be months before they even release a radio capable of playing the combined companies content. Over 75% of Sirius XM's new subscribers are from their arrangements with the automaker industry, leaving them particularly vulnerable during this period of weak auto sales. Finally, many people, particularly investors, question whether satellite radio even serves a purpose, or is just the newest way of conning consumers out of their paychecks.

THE GOOD: Even before the merger, Sirius's revenue and subscriber base was increasing 25% annually, and analysts predicted they would make a profit within the year. With the merger complete, the company can save exorbitant amounts of money by eliminating duplicate job positions (already being done), duplicate company departments, and duplicate radio channels (two CNNs, two FOX news, two reggae channels). The resulting satellite bandwidth freed up may then be used for new products under development, or new radio content such as new channels and public access. In addition, all the potential subscribers unsure whether Sirius or XM was better, only have one choice now. The company has announced future a la carte programming, allowing users to choose their favorite 50 channels for half the price, which will draw in customers curious from the media buzz, and will help retain customers unwilling to dish out $12 a month. The exclusive arrangements with automakers are continuing to grow under the merged company (Sirius XM radio will be in 90% of new Mercedes Benz vehicles by 2010), providing the company with a fresh supply of new subscribers. There will be a dramatic shift from advertising to retaining. Years without a profit has left the stock price ravaged, Citigroup just called Sirious XM "massively undervalued", and CEO Mel Karmazin recently purchased 2 million new shares. And lastly, with 18 million subscribers, Sirius XM would be a very attractive buy to the big players, such as Google or Microsoft, who surely have their eyes on this cheap fiesty satellite provider.

Sirius and XM have spent the last seven years trying to prove satellite radio is important, while at the same time fighting each other for new subscribers, and it has made them strong.They have already learned from their previous mistakes and successes, and with the competition gone, they are ready to make money.


SIRI:  This call was made on 08/16/08 @ $1.47
Rating:   Positive   $1.47 (08/16/08)
Gain/Loss:   -91.12% in 145 days
Target:   $4.00 (+172.11%) in > one year


Comments (3)

Add Comment

Arrow_up
Arrow_down
Condor
Doodahdoodoo   44%     1 point   commented 144 days ago reply

I agree completely. The thing _has_ to climb into the 5-10 range by year's end. I've taken a position with Jan 09 .05 calls. Why not. $50 could turn into $1000 pretty easily.

Arrow_up
Arrow_down
Bear-and-bull-markets_1_
gomes2gold   72%     0 point   commented 136 days ago reply

I am so fortunate to own this stock at these prices on the ticker this time and date.

Arrow_up
Arrow_down
trucknd   80%     1 point   commented 62 days ago reply

sirixm holders plz pass this on SAVE SIRIUS

P.O. Box 7078

Laguna Niguel, CA 92607

949-795-0580

November 5, 2008

Gary Parsons

Chairman of the Board

c/o Board of Directors

Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc.

1221 Avenue of the Americas

36th Floor

New York, NY 10020

Sub: Formal Letter of Demand

I am a shareholder and a member of the recently formed shareholders’ group, Save Sirius. Save Sirius and its members, in this Formal Letter of Demand, call on the Sirius XM Board of Directors to:

Postpone the vote that is asking shareholders to consider the further dilution and increase of shares from 4.5 billion to 8 billion in the fully diluted float
Postpone the proposed reverse split ranging from 1 for 10 to 1 for 50.
In light of the abysmal stock performance and dire financial situation, we demand that all stock and other bonuses be suspended immediately until the return to these compensation plans would be commensurate with the concept of “performance based compensation”

Given the NASDAQ’s reprieve of delisting securities below a dollar, there is time for this board to convene an emergency meeting to consider other options, such as but not limited to, self-funding by shareholders. This will give the Corporation time and means to obtain the additional funding from a position of strength and not from a position of desperation.

We are calling on the board to indefinitely postpone the shareholder vote giving time for management and its shareholders to address any and all viable options to prevent the massive amounts of dilution being proposed by this board as well as the proposed reverse stock split. We demand the board grant a meeting with all interested parties to address alternatives that would be more in line with shareholders’ interests.

If the board continues with the scheduled vote, not meeting our demands, we will hold them in violation of their fiduciary duties and seek injunctive relief.

As the board is aware, there are (RICO) charges pending before a Federal Court in California that accuse this board and its executives of racketeering, breach of fiduciary duty as well as Sherman Act Violations.

The conspiracy to withhold and commercially introduce interoperable radios, to obtain control of all of the SDARS spectrum and to consummate the merger between XM and Sirius at any and all cost, without consideration of the impact on the corporation and its shareholders, gives us cause to deem this board not fit to make proper decisions on behalf of the shareholders.

c/o Board of Directors

November 5, 2008

Page 2

It is inconceivable that this board would lock their shareholders into the longest merger delay in history without having already obtained the proper financing. This board and CEO Mel Karmazin, publicly stated on multiple occasions that if this merger was not in the shareholders’ best interest and “did not make sense”, they would walk away. The fact that the promises made to the shareholders were breached and that

this merger was consummated under what Mr. Karmazin called “toxic terms” has resulted in catastrophic losses (over 90%) in shareholder value. It should be noted that the “toxic terms”( included the issuance of 300 million shares of the Corporation stock to be given to the financiers of XM’s debt for the sole purpose of being sold short on the open market). It is clear that this board is self dealing and it has not fulfilled its fiduciary duty to shareholders.

This has been a well-orchestrated multi-year conspiracy to consolidate the SDARS spectrum which included willful violation of their licensing mandate as well as willful violation of their Joint Development Agreement. The final chapter in the conspiracy will be to privatize the combined entities thereby stealing it from its rightful owners, the shareholders.

Mr. Karmazin was brought out of retirement by Mr. Leon Black of Apollo, a member of the board. In a September 15th 2008 Wall Street Journal article written by Sarah McBride, she states,

"Given Sirius XM's low stock price, Mr. Karmazin said he would love to take the company private. But given the state of the credit markets, 'How do you find [the money] today?' If the company were generating positive cash flow, which he expects it to do for the full year in 2009, privatization would become much more feasible, he says."

Given Mr. Karmazin’s connection with Mr. Leon Black (founder of one of the largest private equity firms in the country), as well as comments made in his Wall Street Journal interview, it is obvious there are severe conflicts of interest between Mr. Karmazin, the board, and their shareholders. It is their goal to privatize this company that is completely adverse to their fiduciary responsibility to enhance shareholder value. To suggest privatization at these levels speaks for itself and the board should call for Mr. Karmazin’s resignation. We are asking those board members who have been complicit in this conspiracy, to step up and perform their fiduciary duty to we the shareholders, by seeking an orderly replacement of our CEO. We would like to take this opportunity to remind the board and executives of SiriusXM that they work for us. It is we, the shareholders, that own this company.

As stated above, if the board continues with the scheduled vote, not meeting our demands, we will hold them in violation of their fiduciary duties and seek injunctive relief. As time is of the essence, we expect a written response within five days from receipt of this letter. Your failure to respond accordingly will result in drafting of the required documents to seek a preliminary injunction.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of Save Sirius:

SaveSirius@gmail.com SaveSirius.org

Signed By: ___________________________________ _________________

Print Name Date

___________________________________

Signature


Your Comment

Who voted on this idea?
Condor
Doodahdoodoo 44% 08/17/2008



ROCK-STAR INVESTORS
Rank Name Sharpe Ratio Avg Return Followers
1 17.80 +39.28% 78
2 15.63 +15.75% 10
3 14.33 +16.71% 41
4 14.22 +22.85% 16
5 13.47 +29.97% 183


POPULAR STOCKS
Symbol Company Name Sentiment

TODAY'S HEADLINES

TODAY'S TOP PICKS

 
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI)
   SocialPicks Sentiment:   

   This Quarter's Sentiment:
All:
68.0%
Top:
10.0%




Latest Picks by dirty_coconut
Symbol SP Sentiment Rating Return Since

View All >
   




IN THE PRESS
Press_forbes Press_washingtonpost Press_wsj Press_npr Press_techcrunch