SiriusXM stock makes marginal gains after earlier falling as much as 9% on weak results
GDMatt66
Shares of SiriusXM (NASDAQ:SIRI) on Thursday reversed course around late morning after having fallen as much as 9% earlier on weak results.
SIRI in pre-market hours reported Q1 GAAP EPS of 6 cents that was in-line with estimates. Revenue came in at $2.14B which missed expectations by $30M.
SIRI stock opened lower and quickly hit a session low at $3.32, before paring its losses and then turning positive. The turnaround was probably due to broader positive sentiment that has seen markets climb on Thursday. As of 1351 ET, SIRI stock was up 0.6% to $3.67. 
SIRI's Q1 GAAP EPS and revenue both fell on a Y/Y basis. Moreover, the company's self-pay subscribers of the Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium services fell by 2% Y/Y to end Q1 at 6.2M, while SiriusXM self-pay subscribers remained flat at 32M.
SIRI CEO Jennifer Witz on the earnings conference call said reduced marketing spend, particularly around streaming, contributed to the negative subscriber growth in the quarter.
Witz also said that car sales would remain the "dominant driver" for subscribers, adding that Q4's trial starts declined sequentially for both new and used vehicles and reduced conversion opportunities in Q1.
Finally, Witz said that SIRI saw typical seasonally higher churn in the quarter.
Turning to the company's guidance, SIRI reaffirmed its FY 2023 revenue forecast of about $9B, compared to a consensus of $9.02B. SIRI raised its adj. EBITDA guidance to about $2.75B from $2.7B previously, and upped its free cash flow guidance to around $1.1B from $1.05B previously.