It's showtime at the Apollo tonight.
Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) is hosting a Bruce Springsteen concert at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem tonight.
The event is being billed as a tribute to satellite radio's 10th anniversary, though there are plenty of other things that Sirius XM could be celebrating.
- It's been nearly four years since the completed merger of Sirius and XM, setting the structure in place for two profitless companies to ultimately combine into a single profitable entity.
- Earlier this week, it became three years since Liberty Media (Nasdaq: LMCA) bailed out the then-struggling Sirius XM financially, walking away with a 40% preferred share stake that it's now free to increase -- if it so desires.
- Dashboard rival Pandora (NYSE: P) saw its stock get clobbered after it issued guidance calling for a sequential dip in revenue and a wider deficit than analysts were forecasting for all of 2012.
- If there's some confetti left, toss it at the automakers. Car sales have been strong lately, and the sale of new vehicles is satellite radio's top source for incremental subscribers.
Sirius XM will obviously be milking tonight's rather intimate Springsteen show. It's been giving away tickets to its subscribers for weeks, and it will naturally be broadcasting the performance.
Top-line growth at Sirius XM may have slowed in recent years, but there have been headier gains in free cash flow and profitability. A company doesn't work its way up to 21.9 million subscribers if it's not doing more than a few things right.
Springsteen said it best: "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run."
Running of the bulls
I remain bullish on Sirius XM's future. It should come as no surprise that I'm promoting the CAPScall initiative for accountability by reiterating my bullish call on Sirius XM for Motley Fool CAPS.
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