(By Balachander) Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) boosted its 2012 net subscriber growth forecast for the third time this year after reporting a 34 percent jump in net additions for the third quarter.
The New York-based radio broadcaster said net subscriber additions were 445,921 in the quarter ended Sept.30 versus 334,000 in the year-ago period. Sirius XM ended the third quarter with roughly 23.36 million subscribers, compared with 21.35 million in the same period of last year.
On Wednesday, Sirius lifted its net subscriber additions outlook to 1.8 million for 2012 from 1.6 million projected earlier.
In 2011, net subscriber additions improved 20 percent to 1.7 million from 1.4 million in 2010.
"With almost 1.5 million net subscribers already added in 2012 and continuing growth in auto sales, we will significantly exceed our previous guidance of 1.6 million, marking our third increase in subscriber guidance this year and putting us on track for record post-merger net additions," commented Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin.
On Wednesday, shares rose 2.66 percent to trade at $2.69. Over the past 52 week, the stock has been trading between $1.61 to $2.75.