Is there a rally looming for both satellite radio stocks?

Some observers are commenting that the renegotiations over music royalities, and the accompaning uncertainty, are keeping investors at bay. But the decision for this is likely to take upwards of 18 months to resolve, so for the short-term it's pretty much a non-issue.

Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa is bullish on both XMSR and SIRI, arguing that so much bad news has been factored into each that they are due for a rally, especially into the holiday season.

"We are currently forecasting the satellite (radio) industry to grow from 9 million subscribers at year-end 2005 to 51 million subscribers by year-end 2015," Furukawa said.

Additionally, according to a research report by American Technology Research analyst Rob Sanderson: "Both stocks have been exceptionally poor performers. While we do not see a turn in weak fundamentals in the near-term, we think both stocks may be candidates for a year-end bounce."

Sanderson said as fund managers try and unload their worst performing stocks to offset capital gains taxes, poor-performing stocks historically see solid gains in the following months.

"Investors are bottom fishing," he said in a telephone interview with Forbes. "A lot of times you see a bit of a rally at the end of the year."