Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) released its fourth quarter earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting earnings per share of 3 cents and $1.2 billion in revenue—both of which were in line with the consensus estimates. In last year’s fourth quarter, the satellite radio provider reported earnings of 3 cents per share and revenue of $1.1 billion.
Sirius XM sees strong subscriber growth
Adjusted EBITDA climbed 4% year over year to $396 million. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA climbed 13% to $1.66 billion, marking a new record high in Sirius XM’s history. Free cash flow climbed 23% year over year to $1.32 billion in 2015.
Sirius XM grew its subscriber base to about 29.6 million, adding approximately 2.3 million net new subscribers in 2015, which the company said was the strongest subscriber growth number since 2007 before the merger of Sirius and XM. The increase in subscribers in 2015 was 30% over 2014. The company added 1.765 million net self-pay subscribers in 2015, marking a 23% year over year increase. Total paid subscribers grew 8% to about 29.6 million in 2015.
The company bought back 92 million shares for $369 million during the fourth quarter and accelerated its repurchases in January to almost $200 million on the back of its share price decline, which followed the broader arket. Management was positive on the record high metrics and intends to continue investing in a number of areas.
“We are investing in new marketing capabilities, our connected vehicle business, new satellites, a next generation wideband chipset and, most importantly, our world-class and exclusive content,” Sirius XM CEO Jim Meyer said in a statement. “We expect that these investments, together with our long-standing focus on execution, will help us continue our long history of strong, profitable growth.”
Sirius XM provides guidance
For 2016, management expects about 1.4 million net subscriber adds and about $4.9 billion in revenue. They project about $1.78 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the full year and about $1.4 billion in free cash flow.
Shares of Sirius XM were little changed in premarket trading after this morning’s earnings release. As of this writing, the stock was down 0.27% or 1 penny from Monday’s closing price at $3.71 per share.
