Things never get dull for the country's lone satellite-radio provider. Shares of Sirius XM Radio (SIRI -0.50%) moved higher on the week, gaining 1.4% to close at $3.61. The media darling's pop was better than the Nasdaq's 0.5% uptick on the week.
There was more going on beyond the share-price gyrations, though. Morgan Stanley issued a report on Sirius XM, reiterating its neutral stance. The satellite-radio giant made some programming moves centered on annual events. And on the streaming front, Spotify may be going public .
Let's take a closer look.
Neutral ground
There hasn't been a lot of analyst activity on Sirius XM since majority stakeholder Liberty Media (FWONA) moved to acquire the balance of the company. Until the matter is resolved, it limits both the upside and the downside.
However, that didn't stop Morgan Stanley from issuing a new report on Wednesday, sticking to its $3.50 price target and its equal-weight stock rating. Morgan Stanley's Benjamin Swinburne feels that Sirius XM's guidance is conservative -- it has historically been a low-baller -- but there are still valuation concerns if the Liberty Media deal doesn't go through. Given the strong sentiment among retail investors that Liberty Media is stealing Sirius XM shares, the deal unraveling isn't a ludicrous notion.
We now return to your regularly scheduled programming
It was a relatively tame week on the news front, but that's not a surprise, given the abridged trading week.
Sirius XM issued a pair of press releases, promoting timely limited-run offerings. It announced that its exclusive Entertainment Weekly Radio will have a full week of coverage of the upcoming Academy Awards. Sirius XM also announced in-depth coverage of the Daytona 500, which isn't really a surprise since it's a NASCAR partner.
These programming releases don't move the stock. However, they draw attention to its wide breadth of content, and that's clearly been magnetic to Sirius XM's growing base of subscribers.
Spotify marks the spot
There may be another publicly traded digital-music giant on the scene soon. Spotify put out a job listing to find someone to handle external relations. This is a post that typically serves as the head of investor relations after an IPO.
CNBC speculated that Spofity is arming itself to go public, and you can't blame the premium streaming darling with millions of paying subscribers. It will be interesting to grab a peek at its financials.
