NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius XM Radio Inc reported a net loss for the fourth quarter, and it forecast weaker-than-expected revenue for next year, which sent its shares down more than 8 percent on Tuesday in premarket trading.
The satellite radio company said it expects full-year revenue to be about $3 billion, which falls short of Wall Street's expectations of full-year revenue of $3.02 billion to $3.1 billion. This sent its shares lower in premarket trading to $1.68, BGB Securities analyst Murray Arenson said. The shares closed Monday at $1.83 on the Nasdaq.
Excluding costs for paying off debt early and restructuring charges, the company said net income would have been $62 million, up from $18 million a year earlier. The company did not provide a per-share amount following these adjustments.
Sirius XM has been steadily adding subscribers and distancing itself from years of huge losses and concerns about its business model. It ended the quarter with 20.2 million subscribers, up from 18.8 million a year earlier. It said it paid less to attract subscribers than it did last year.
The company reported a net loss of $81.4 million, or 2 cents per share, versus a profit of $11.8 million, or nil per share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter was $735.9 million, which falls shy of what the $739.9 million that analysts were expecting, according to Thomson-Reuters I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek)
