Sirius posts 'expected' numbers for quarter; sees 50% increase in customers

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw a quarterly subscriber increase of more than 50% as the satellite radio company reported a smaller-than-expected Q3 loss this morning. Still ahead is Sirius' planned merger with competitor XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), which is still on the regulatory burner as this is being written.

Sirius did see a Q3 loss of $120.1 million ($0.08 per share) compared to a year-ago loss of nearly $163 million ($0.12 per share), but revenues did rise 45% to $241.8 million for the quarter, compared to 2006's $167.1 million. The results barely fell short of the market's expectation of $244.3 million. Putting it another way, Sirius pretty much hit analyst expectations. How the estimates can nail such a specific figure is anyone's guess.

Sirius had a devil of a time in the quarter when it can to subscribers, as it added almost 525,000 new ones to its ranks for the July-September period alone. This is the unreal part: Sirius ended the Q3 period with right at 7.7 million subscribers -- a 50% increase than a year ago.

In other words, Sirius added half its customer base just in the last year alone. Now, that's growth (in subscribers, not profit). XM Radio still has more subscribers at 8.6 million, but Sirius may indeed have more before the merger is finalized and complete if it continues growing at the rate it has been in the last few quarters.