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Pandora’s October 2013 Audience Metrics Weren’t Bad

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Pandora (P), the leading internet radio service, announced its October 2013 audience metrics Tuesday. Listener hours advanced 18%, share of total US radio listening jumped 145 basis points, while active listeners increased 20% for the month on a year-over-year basis. On a sequential monthly basis, listening hours advanced 8%, share of total US radio listening increased 29 basis points, while listeners fell modestly. Though Apple (AAPL) may be impacting listener expansion to a degree with its iTunes Radio product, the market share performance at Pandora was solid, and expectations regarding the demise of Pandora due to Apple’s entrance may be a bit overblown at present. Still, Apple is a considerable long-term threat, with near unlimited financial resources. Valuentum’s Take In … Read more

Apple’s Products and Free Cash Flow Are Amazing

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Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio holding Apple (AAPL) posted decent fiscal fourth quarter results Monday, finishing off a tremendously profitable 2013 fiscal year. Revenue increased 4% year-over-year during the fourth quarter to $37.5 billion, easily exceeding consensus estimates. For the full-year, the iPad maker’s revenue grew 14% to $170.9 billion—more revenue than Chipotle, Netflix, Tesla, and Facebook combined. Earnings per share easily exceeded consensus estimates but fell 4.7% year-over-year to $8.26. For the full-year, earnings per share declined 10% to $39.75. However, Apple generated $45.5 billion in free cash flow for fiscal 2013, up about $3 billion year-over-year and equal to 27% of revenue. iPhone Refresh a Success   Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones during the quarter, an … Read more

Pandora: Don’t Be Misled by September Metrics

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Shares of Pandora (click ticker for report: ) have been on a wild ride lately as a result of the combination of strong listening metrics and the announcement of a new competitor in the form of Apple’s iTunes Radio (click ticker for report: ). We continue to steer clear of shares. Here’s why.   Share Offering   Though shareholders rarely ever want to see companies issue equity as Pandora did when it sold 18.2 million shares of its overvalued stock at $25 per share September 24, when a firm sells overpriced shares, the process actually creates value for existing shareholders. Think of it this way. If you can get more money for something than it is actually worth, you’re creating … Read more

Pandora Preps for Battle

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Internet radio giant Pandora (click ticker for report: ) posted solid second-quarter results Thursday afternoon. Revenue rose 57% year-over-year to $157 million, slightly above consensus estimates. Earnings-per-share on a non-GAAP basis was much higher than the prior year at $0.04, which was also much better than consensus expectations. Free cash flow during the quarter was a negative $8.5 million as the firm continues to invest heavily in future growth. Goodbye Hours-Cap Perhaps the most important development during the quarter was that Pandora will remove its 40-hour cap on mobile listening effective September 1. After re-implementing the hours-cap in February, total listening hours declined 7% sequentially (but were still up 18% year-over-year though) to 3.88 billion. Pandora had no choice, in … Read more

iOS Gets a Facelift: Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

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Day 1 has passed at Best Ideas Newsletter holding Apple’s (click ticker for report: ), and we were hit with a barrage of news. The most pertinent issue of the day was the introduction of iOS 7, the iPhone and iPad’s new operating system. It is the first major overhaul of iOS, and it signals the company is serious about bringing positive changes. In addition to a new mobile operating system, Apple unveiled iTunes Radio, a streaming music service to compete with the likes of Pandora (click ticker for report: ) and Spotify. Lastly, the firm unveiled its newest Mac Pro—one of the most innovative products we’ve seen from the company in the last year. iOS 7 Image Source: Apple … Read more

Apple Can “Amazon” Pandora

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Over the past year, the idea of Apple (click ticker for report: ) launching an internet streaming radio has been in the back of our minds. In fact, we think it’s the one of the few interesting features that could make the Apple ecosystem even stickier. According to reports, iRadio could be introduced next week. Pandora (click ticker for report: ) shareholders are clearly worried, sending shares tumbling over the past few days, and we believe they should be. While Apple has (wisely) been unwilling to sell its phones or hardware at lower prices in order to win market share, we do not think this logic necessarily applies to iAds/iRadio. For one, Apple’s hardware presents advertisers with an enormous installed … Read more

Pandora’s Market Share is Improving…But Profitability Continues to Flounder

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Internet radio company Pandora (click ticker for report: ) announced the results for its fiscal year 2013 fourth quarter late last week. Results were mostly better than expected, with revenue surging 54% year-over-year to $125 million. Earnings were a penny higher than consensus forecasts, as the company lost just $0.04 per share, significantly better than the year prior. Pandora’s service continues to surge in popularity thanks to the convenience of mobile and continued market share gains. Hours listened jumped 53% year-over-year during the quarter to 4.05 billion hours, while hours listened for the year grew 70% year-over-year to 14.01 billion hours. Perhaps even more telling, the company’s share of the US radio market in February jumped to a whopping 8.48%, … Read more

Xbox Music Is a Nice Addition to the Surface Product Suite

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Early Monday, Microsoft (click ticker for report: ) announced that it will add Xbox Music as a preloaded device to its Surface tablets. Much like Spotify, the service will allow users to compile their own on-demand music and playlists, but it will also be able to be used for downloading individual songs onto a cloud storage system. Though the new software will also be available on iOS (click ticker for report: ) and Android (click ticker for report: ) within the year, the service is a clear attempt to boost the attractiveness of the Surface tablet. The service will have the same selection of songs as the recently discontinued Zune Pass, and it revives the firm’s presence in music. It’s … Read more