Best Stock to Buy Right Now: SiriusXM vs. Apple
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) aren't exactly peers. One is a technology behemoth with its hands in everything from artificial intelligence to smartphones and wearable tech. The other is solely betting on its streaming audio subscription services.
Sure, they both offer a music subscription service, but that's where the similarities end. So why compare the two? Because both stocks are getting a lot of attention from investors right now. It's worth taking a few minutes to size them up to see which one looks like the better buy today.
One of the most compelling angles for investing in SiriusXM is its dominance in satellite radio, specifically its vehicle-based music subscriptions. The company had 33 million subscribers at the end of 2024. That's a sizable customer base, but unfortunately, it has stagnated over the past few years.
At the end of 2021, SiriusXM had 32 million subscribers, which means it only added 1 million subscribers in four years. Most importantly, self-pay subscribers dropped from 34 million last year to their current level of 33 million.
That's not a great sign for the company. Music streaming is a competitive space, and with Apple and Spotify gobbling up most of the market, SiriusXM's retreating subscriber numbers should be troubling to potential investors. SiriusXM also brings in advertising revenue, but it was essentially flat from 2023 to 2024, at $1.8 billion.
While we're focusing on SiriusXM's not-so-great news, the company's total sales decreased by 4% in 2024 to $6.6 billion, and average revenue per user fell by $0.35 to $15.21.
In Apple's most recently reported quarter, about 56% of its revenue came from iPhone sales, but it still has a far more diversified business than SiriusXM, and its efforts to further diversify its sales are making progress. For example, just five years ago, about 14% of its revenue came from its services; now, services account for 21%.
There's been some uncertainty about how well Apple can grow in an increasingly competitive tech landscape, especially with such an intense focus on AI opportunities. So far, Apple is weathering all of this adequately. It partnered with OpenAI to offload more complex requests that Siri can't handle to ChatGPT, and also introduced its own AI offering, Apple Intelligence, on its devices.
Apple is also consistently growing. The company reported $124.3 billion in sales in its fiscal 2025 first quarter, (which ended Dec. 28), up 4% from the year-ago quarter, and diluted earnings per share jumped 10% to $2.40.
