SiriusXM Raises 2026 Outlook for a Second Straight Quarter as Shares Climb
SiriusXM raised its full-year 2026 financial forecast for the second quarter in a row on 29 October 2026, and its shares rose by nearly 3% on the day it reported third-quarter results. The company, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker SIRI, now expects revenue of $8.55 billion for the year.
The updated outlook also puts adjusted EBITDA at $2.65 billion. That figure is a profit measure that strips out interest, tax, and the wear on equipment and assets, and it is often used to compare how much a business earns from its operations. SiriusXM also expects free cash flow of $1.4 billion, meaning the cash left after day-to-day running costs and investment. SiriusXM released the figures in its third-quarter operating and financial results.
For the quarter itself, revenue came to $2.153 billion, slightly lower than a year earlier because of reduced equipment sales. Net income rose 6.7% to $317 million, and earnings per share were $0.94. Free cash flow climbed 14% to $293 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose 2.7% to $694 million.
The margin on that profit grew as well. Adjusted EBITDA margin, the share of revenue kept as that profit measure, widened to 32.2% from 31.3% a year ago. Gross profit margin, which tracks revenue left after the direct costs of providing the service, reached 52.8%, up from 52.2%.
Advertising brought in $465 million. Podcast advertising revenue rose 20%, and SiriusXM signed a four-year exclusive deal for the comedy podcast Giggly Squad, hosted by Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo.
The company's satellite radio and audio business brought in $1.604 billion, down about 0.5%. Average revenue per user, the average amount each paying customer brings in, was flat at $15.18. SiriusXM added 5,000 net new self-pay subscribers, the people who pay directly rather than getting the service through a car or a partner, and ended the quarter with 31.26 million.
Pandora was flatter. Its revenue was $549 million, unchanged from a year earlier. Monthly active users, the people who used the service at least once in a month, fell 6.6% to 38.8 million. Pandora's self-pay subscribers dropped 3% to just over 5.5 million.
Looking further ahead, SiriusXM said it remains on track to generate $1.5 billion in free cash flow in 2027. It is also targeting $100 million in cost savings by the end of 2026. Jennifer Witz is the company's chief executive, and the company held its results webcast at 8:00 a.m. EDT that morning.
What stands out most is the gap between the two services. Subscriber growth and cash flow moved up at SiriusXM while Pandora's audience and paying base shrank. Both sets of numbers sit in the same quarterly report, and both affect the people who make, host, and pay for the audio that plays through them.
