This morning, after the long break had passed without any news or further rumors of the possible merger between the two satellite radio companies, two brokers updated their rating fro XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI).
J.P. Morgan upgraded both Sirius and XM to overweight from neutral. J.P. Morgan said that despite assuming slower growth rate going forward, it still sees Sirius with more than 15 million subscribers by 2010 and XM with more than 14 million. Deals with automakers will be the driving force for this growth. As for the merger, J.P. Morgan isn't certain about regulatory approval, but said the two companies could attempt a merger in 2007.
Banc of America Securities, on the other hand, downgraded XM as it sees a potential upside mainly due to a possible merger with Sirius. Without it, the broker says, there is significant downside. Those who brought up technology concerns regarding the merger, would be pleased to know that some analysts think the same. Jonathan A. Jacoby of B of A thinks that since the systems aren't interoperable, most cost savings wouldn't be realized until the end of the decade in case of a merger.
After a strong week, SIRI is up 3.9% in pre-market while XMSR is up 1.5%.
XMSR gets an upgrade and a downgrade, SIRI an upgrade
Posted Jan 16th 2007 9:10AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-16-2007 @ 3:28PM
EMIL J KOVACH JR said...
These Stocks Are Certainly Driven By A Combination Of--Installed Units In Cars--Home Receivers--With SAT Capability--And Reception Of Personal Media Devices--SAT Has The Capability Of Reaching All Of These Devices--Sea To Shinning Sea--AND Internet Feeds As Well--Potential Is Huge--HUGE--But Single Ownership--Will Stifle There Ability To Attrack The Expensive Talent And Creative Force Needed--For The WANT Factor--Howard Only Got 500 Million--Because 2 Players Realized His Potential--If There Were A Merger--Prior To His Exit--He May Still Be Looking For A Job--If The ONE Owner Felt He Was Too Toxic.
The Freedom Of Almost No Cencsorship--Is Only Applicable To Sat Broadcasters Of These 2 Frequencies--As The Younger Generation Accepts This Style Of Humor--These Business Models Will Be Thier Altenative To Reach Thier Audience--And Ultimately Relegate Conventional Broadcast Bands To Pretty Bland Programming--MAKE NO MISTAKE--The Audience For BLAND Programming--Is HUGE HUGE--Most Married And Relationship Females Want This On There Radios--
Males--Prefer Something Else--Sat Does Provide This With Un Regulated Language Restraints--Howard Should Be Applauded--For Not letting His Show Turn Into Nothing More Than Low Class Pornography--Which Many Of His Fans feared.
This Shows You--The Audience Is There--For Adult Humor And Current Events--TO ATTRACK This Talent--We NEED Money And Freedom--For This Medium--AND ONLY A Separated DUOPLOY--Can Provide This--If Ten Howards Were Out There--You Would See The Largest Conversion To SAT The World Has Seen--But The Talent Isn't There---YET--We Cannot Restrict This Medium And Stop The Flow--Which A Single Ownership Would Do--Do You Really Want Rupert Murdock--Or Someone Else--Controlling ALL--ALL-The Information Channels--These Two Providers Carry?
Well--Maybe Some Of The Audience Does.
EMIL J KOVACH JR