XM Radio: Q1 earnings preview

With XM Radio's first-quarter earnings coming out this Thursday, what will the company put forth for its performance? Analysts estimate that the satellite radio broadcaster will lose about $0.40 per share for Q1, which would be up about 33% from the year-ago quarter. This is still deep in loss territory and XM's proposed buyout by competitor Sirius is still uncertain at this time.

If the takeover happens, then both XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) will operate under a different financial model that will bring good earnings and profits much faster than either company could achieve operating alone. That is the theory, anyway. It is a pretty generic formula for many consumer-level M&A activity these days. Whether it will pass regulatory scrutiny is another matter and right now it's a guessing game.

Check back here Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT as I'll liveblog the XM quarterly conference call and we'll see what the current progress on the buyout is, as well as how Q1's seasonally-low results actually come in. My pick is that XMSR will deliver a $0.35 loss per share for Q1, a bit above analyst estimates. The range is from $0.27 to $0.52 -- what's your take?