Friday, October 06, 2006

TheStreet.com On XMSR

The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week
Page 3, Oct 6, 2006

3. XM Marks the Spot
XM Satellite (XMSR - commentary - Cramer's Take) is slipping again.

Shares of the Washington, D.C., satellite radio broadcaster have plunged 57% this year as growth has slowed and other problems have cropped up. XM shares bounced briefly last month amid takeover talk, but the optimism has since faded.
The latest evidence of XM's decay came Wednesday. XM said it added 285,000 users in the third quarter, far below the 441,000-user gain at rival Sirius (SIRI - commentary - Cramer's Take). Sirius started the year with roughly half as many customers as XM, but now it has closed the gap for four straight quarters.

But the slowdown is far from XM's only problem. The company has been in and out of compliance with Federal Communications Commission emissions rules. A filing this week says 221 of the company's land antennas were operating at power levels in excess of commission limits, the Washington Post reported.

And if that's not enough, on Wednesday XM lost its second director this year....read more: here