Well, it seems the earlier reports about Howard Stern being out at satellite and streaming music giant SiriusXM (SIRI) were not to be. Stern returned to his show this morning after a brief and probably somewhat heartbreaking stunt started things off before Stern himself offered clarification. Shares were up nearly 2.5% in Monday morning’s trading.
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Today was the big day, or rather the day to which the previous big day had been delayed. And September 8 dawned in unusual fashion, as Howard Stern fans woke up to hear…Andy Cohen. Andy noted that he was taking over the Howard Stern Show slot with Andy 100, his new show, saying, “I can’t overstate what Howard has meant to this company and what he did for SiriusXM. He walked so that we could run. I can’t possibly fill his void.”
And while Stern fans were likely left gutted by the announcement, it soon became clear it was all just a joke. Stern himself came back in, noting that he had missed last week because he personally was sick, not because of any issue in contract negotiations. Stern noted that he was “…very happy at Sirius,” and the show went on accordingly. Sirius brass, meanwhile, came out in support, with chief content officer and president Scott Greenstein declaring, “We’d love (for Stern) to stay. It certainly has to make sense, but we feel pretty good that we’ve done this before, and we’ll see where it goes.”
New Direction, New Director
Perhaps in support of that plan, SiriusXM brought in a new member of its board of directors in the form of Dave Stephenson. Stephenson was brought in as an independent director, and will be part of the Board’s compensation committee, potentially trying to figure out how much money Stern should be getting to do that show.
Stephenson is actually oddly busy; even as he takes on this role, he is also the Chief Business Officer and Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb (ABNB). This gives him not only control of worldwide business growth operations, but also the human resources operation. He was formerly Airbnb’s Chief Financial Officer as well, which certainly suggests a depth of experience going into that role.
Is SiriusXM Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on SIRI stock based on three Buys, three Holds, and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.89% loss in its share price over the past year, the average SIRI price target of $23.35 per share implies 4.65% downside risk.
