(By Balachander) Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, and shares of the New York-based radio broadcaster added 1.79 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.
Net income declined to $74.51 million or $0.01 per share for the third quarter from $104.18 million or $0.02 per share in the comparable period of last year. Results for the quarter ended Sept. 30 included a loss on extinguishment of debt of $107 million.
Total revenue grew 13.7 percent to $867.4 million.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expected earnings of 2 cents a share on revenue of $865.6 million.
Total operating expenses increased 10 percent to $635.6 million.
Last month, Sirius boosted its 2012 net subscriber growth forecast for the third time this year after reporting a jump in net additions for the third quarter. Net subscriber additions were 445,921 in the quarter versus 333,683 in the year-ago period.
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.
"We're excited about the increase in subscriber guidance to 1.8 million net additions that we reported earlier this month, as we believe growth in the fourth quarter will continue," commented CEO Mel Karmazin.
The company still expects revenue of $3.4 billion for 2012, in line with market expectations.
Average self-pay monthly churn was 2.0 percent, compared with 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2011.
The stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range of $1.61 to $2.97, ended at $2.80 on Wednesday.