Remember when market darlings used to step up during the lulls between quarterly reports to deliver good news?
Well, welcome to the new normal.
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) -- two of the market's best-performing stocks over the past two years -- issued some uninspiring guidance this week.
Sirius XM Radio announced that revenue will grow by only 10% next year, despite a 12% price increase it plans to roll out in January. The market didn't mind, though, and sent shares of the satellite-radio operator higher on the news.
However, there was no mistaking the market's groan when Netflix revealed on Thursday that it will close out the quarter with just 24 million domestic subscribers, short of the 25 million it was originally targeting. The stock fell 19% on the news.
One can't take Netflix to task for coming clean, but style points don't matter when cracks begin showing up on your model.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry has become the Tiki Barber of smartphones. It used to be a great player a few years ago, but now it's having a hard time finding any kind of work. RIM's quarterly report on Thursday fell short of analyst revenue and earnings targets.
- Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) finally put its ITA Software acquisition to work by quietly rolling out an airline flight search feature. Nice! Now when antitrust regulators tell Big G to take a hike after trying to push through another big purchase, it'll know where to get the best rates to do just that.
- Sony (NYSE: SNE) is sticking to its earlier $249 pricing on its Vita handheld gaming system when it launches in Japan in two months. A stateside rollout will follow early next year. Sorry, Sony. You can't win if your portable gadget costs more than an entry-level iPod touch. Didn't the 3DS flub teach you anything?
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
