We Think $SIRI Has Some Sirius PotentialHonestly, I didn't even know Sirius XM was a publicly traded company until 6 months ago. Mainly because it's under $5, and I generally tend to avoid such stocks after getting burned in the penny stock world so many years ago. But SIRI is an interesting ticker, and one we recently acquired quite a sum of shares in for the long run, and by long run, I mean retirement.
We bought for multiple reasons, none of which revolve around Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A/B) increased stake in the company; although that can be a nice boost.
First, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $.01/share (.04/share/year). Granted, this is not a lucrative dividend amount by a long-shot, but it is one indicator of a fundamental shift in the company's long-term outlook to their business success. In essence, I like to see a company project confidence in their model by thereby rewarding their shareholders, even if it's a little. Oh, and that doesn't mean it won't grow in the future either.
Second it's maintained a nice technical uptrend, so we're at least going to ride it for a bit of the long haul. We've had two entries hit since the stock really started running.
Third, we don't like to speculate on the future of a company's capabilities or markets, but due to our knowledge of satellites, I find it interesting that SIRI is named as a potential contender in the "Connected Car". The possibilities of Sirius's S-band downlink being used as a secondary or tertiary backup link, or a data stream to the cars' ability to predict traffic and best routes possibly could be a market entry when the self-driving car technology gains a foothold. This would allow for contractual growth and a steadily grown curve of revenue.
For just a minute though, let's get a little crazier and speculate a little bit. Another interesting concept is Sirius' versatility and the company's placement's potential for scale. In reality, Sirius is a Satellite communications provider; it's just a one-way transmission to your car radio. But here's food for thought: satellite phone communications. At the moment, most sat phones are not even worth the average consumer buying due to the high cost of operation ($6/minute) and the infeasibility of carrying a brief case that holds the equipment. But when we looked at SIRI, we look at how other companies might be looking to scale, and how SIRI might do the same. We personally think that there's only so many cell towers one can build, and they only provide coverage in a certain area. Furthermore, the current satellite phone providers such as Iridium, Globalstar, and INMARSAT have a huge cost, and rightly so due to the amount of satellites they've put in orbit to maintain their service provision. But I think Sirius is a well-known consumer brand. Seriously. Ask any person on the street what it is and they'll likely tell you it's a satellite radio. Now tell that same person that Sirius is providing phone services to their iPhone/Android/Pixel. They probably wouldn't be very surprised would they? But how would SIRI do it? Possibly through a joint venture with a company like Google or Android since Apple is a competitor in the online music streaming business. If Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) were to come in, design a proprietary receiver/transmitter into the phone it'd be a win-win for both companies. Also, SIRI would be that service provider undercutting the competition SATCOM providers as well as terrestrial providers like Verizon (NYSE:VZ), T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) and AT&T (NYSE:T). Thus, Sirius would have then successfully expanded and would gain an insurmountable competitive advantage.
The transmission architecture could possibly be supported both through uplink communications to a leased COMSAT (cheaper than building a new one) or through the joint venture to build an entire new constellation. Not to mention, Sirius already has a terrestrial repeater network for their radio services (much like cell towers), and this could have a
