Benzinga | Apr 28, 2021 08:59AM EDT

Sirius XM Beats On Q1 Earnings, Reiterates FY21 guidance

* Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) reported first-quarter FY21 revenue growth of 5% year-on-year to $2.06 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion.

* Sirius XM revenue rose 2% to $1.62 billion. Pandora revenue rose 19.8% to $442 million.

* Sirius XM's paid promotional subscribers declined 26%, but Self-pay subscribers posted a 3% growth. Ending subscribers, traffic users, and Canada subscribers posted an early single-digit decline.

* Pandora's paid promotional subscribers rose 23%, and Self-pay and ending subscribers noted early single-digit growth. Monthly active users reported an 8% decline.

* The gross margin contracted 110 basis points to 61%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 7% to $682 million.

* Sirius added 126,000 self-pay net subscribers, growing by 83% with a record-low churn rate of 1.6%, along with a record-high quarterly adjusted EBITDA figure, CEO Jennifer Witz said.

* Advertising revenue grew 24% from the robust monetization of both on- and off-platform opportunities, and the growing podcast market, Witz added.

* Adjusted EPS amounted to $0.07, exceeding the analyst estimate of $0.06.

* The company generated $292 million in operating cash flow. It held $67 million in cash and equivalents.

* Sirius XM returned $577 million of capital to stockholders in the first quarter, which comprised $516 million in stock repurchases and $61 million paid in dividends.

* Sirius reiterated its FY21 guidance of 800,000 self-pay net subscriber additions, revenue of $8.35 billion, and an adjusted EBITDA of $2.575 billion.

* Price action: SIRI shares traded lower by 0.95% at $6.25 in the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.