Why ANALysts Are Useless For Individual Investors: Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) & Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Posted by timothysykes on Sat 23rd of Aug, 2008 06:00:50 PM

I rag on ANALysts quite a bit, probly cuz their track records uniformly suck and yet they still get paid some decently to suck. More importantly, many people actually listen to these people who suck (Is that why they’re called suckers?)

Check out this example of typical shoddy ANALyst work:

Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) TARGET $6.50 by Citi
AAPL Stream Underscores New Opportunity

Value is in the Content — Reports of a new internet streaming application that
would allow SIRI users to get content on their iPhones and other portable
devices are now emerging and highlight that SIRI’s value lies in its content and
not its hardware or infrastructure. We maintain that SIRI will continue to gain
share in the audio entertainment industry as it offers long tail content that is
proprietary, unique, fresh, and simple. The fact that about 50% of new OEM
customers still elect to pay for satellite radio despite the challenging macro
environment supports this view.

A Little Help from AAPL — While AAPL is generally perceived as a competitor
to satellite radio, the streaming application underscores that it may
complement and help satellite radio as the new application would: 1) eliminate
SIRI radio costs; 2) help generate new subs at a lower cost (albeit with a higher
royalty rate given the internet streaming); and 3) likely improve the ability to
purchase tracks from AAPL.

It’s Not Black and White — SIRI bears argue that AAPL’s products will take
share from SIRI, but we disagree as both MP3 players and satellite radio have
unique advantages that leads us to believe both will co-exist. New satellite
radio plans create a greater opportunity for synergies between the two.

Buy SIRI — The stock has been hurt by the difficult macro backdrop and auto
production slowdown; however, we believe SIRI is massively undervalued as
investors fail to appreciate the size of merger synergies, the opportunity for top
line improvement with new plans, and the benefits of greater OEM penetration.
Tony Wible, CFA
+1-212-816-3732
w.a.wible@citi.com
Leo Kulp, CFA
leo.kulp@citi.com
Albert Lui
albert.lui@citi.com
See Appendix A-1 for Analyst Certification and important disclosures.
Buy/Speculative 1S
Price (13 Aug 08) US$1.38
Target price US$6.50
Expected share price return 371.0%
Expected dividend yield 0.0%
Expected total return 371.0%
Market Cap US$4,384M
Price Performance (RIC: SIRI.O, BB: SIRI US)

It’s hilarious to me that these guys have actually laid out models for why SIRI will more than triple in price. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but there’s absolutely no reason to buy this piece of crap stock cuz its proven itself to be a disaster and no matter what anybody says, track records do matter. Especially when the company in question has issued BILLIONS of shares to finance their expansion. That’s why there’s millions of bitter shareholders. That’s why it’s nearly impossible for it to ever go up much, let alone double or triple.

To be confident in my thesis, I don’t have to do any business research whatsoever–I’ve got all the variables–not the variables these ANALysts mistakenly believe matter–biz developments, revenue growth, profit, etc.–on my side and worst comes to worst, if the stock does somehow start to uptrend–I’ll use technical analysis as my guide. Forget about $6.50, forget about even $5, $3-4 has tonsssssssss of resistance, barring a miracle/takeover, that congestion will hold this stock down for years, if not decades, if not forever.

Using simple technical analysis–moreso on less covered/talked about/debated-to-death stocks aka inefficient–I can be right 90-95% of the time and ANALysts are stuck waaaay under 50%. Obviously their stuff is waaaay more scalable/mainstream so they’ll continue getting paid to put out these ridiculous price targets based on “business prospects” with companies like AAPL, but it’s totally irrelevant to you, as I’m guessing you’re not a mutual fund manager so there’s a greater chance of you outperforming a simple index like the S&P 500 cuz you can enter and exit your positions easily.

Long story short, there’s really no need to resort to listening to some hail-Mary like what you read above…ever.

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