Barrington Research analyst Jim Goss writes in a recent report that he feels Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. is "better positioned" than XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. to achieve profitability should the merger not go through.

"We continue to believe that the FCC will likely approve the merger, although the time frame remains unclear," write Goss.

Barrington adds that, "if the merger is blocked or the approval language contains unacceptable conditions, we would continue to favor Sirius as the better standalone operator." Goss said that Sirius is "better positioned" than XM "to achieve profitability in a shorter time frame with relatively less downside risk."

In a report on XM, Goss noted that, "In the event that this does not occur, we feel some risk would exist in the stock."

[RadioInk]

Despite falling U.S. auto sales, XM Satellite Radio delivered the highest number of vehicle based subscriptions in satellite radio history, said CEO Nate Davis during yesterday's earnings call.

"Even with the relative softness in the US auto-market, XM delivered the largest number of OEM growth additions in the history of satellite radio," Davis said.

XM had over 800,000 gross OEM additions and roughly a million factory installed XM radios manufactured and delivered to dealers in the quarter, Davis told investors. "That is a 48% year-over-year quarterly increase."

XM ended the quarter 355,000 net subscriber additions from the OEM channel, while Sirius brought in over 321,000 net subscribers from the automotive channel.

Still, XM had a net loss of 51,000 subscribers from the Retail channel, while Sirius squeaked out just over an additional 2,500 subscribers from Retail

Davis explained that while the company had successfully increased direct retail sales to their website and call centers, those increases did not offset "the continuing decline in overall retail sales through the big box retailers."

"However, offsetting this retail weakness... is a continued acceleration of our OEM growth," said the CEO. "XM 2008 installations could well exceed 4 million units close to the long range estimate we provided a number of year's ago."

[Transcript via SeekingAlpha]

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. today announced its earnings and financial results for the first-quarter of 2008.

XM ended the quarter with 9.33 million subscribers, an 18 percent increase, from the first quarter of last year. This growth was driven by a 49 percent year-over-year increase in OEM gross additions which totaled 802,000 - that's compared to 537,000 in first quarter of 2007.

XM added 1.034 million gross subscribers for the period (compared to 868,000 last year), and 303,000 net subscriber additions (compared to 285,000 last year).

Revenue for 1Q08 rose to $308 million, a nearly 17% increase over 1Q07 revenue of $264 million.

Adjusted operating loss was $30.7 million, compared to a loss of $27 million in first quarter 2007. The first quarter 2008 adjusted operating loss includes $3.5 million of merger related expenses, compared to $9.2 million in first quarter 2007.

XM's net loss for 1Q08 was $129 million, or 42 cents a share, compared to a year-ago net loss of $122 million, or 40 cents a share. Analysts were expecting a loss of 39 cents a share on revenue of $313 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

In first quarter 2008, XM's subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) increased to $73, compared to $65 in the same period last year. Cost per gross addition (CPGA) fell below $100 to $99 for the first time since 3Q06 and compares to $103 in first quarter 2007. Average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) fell to $10.04 from $10.15 in the year-ago quarter.

View full financials after the jump...

XM Satellite Radio has also announced that they will holding their Q1 earnings conference call on Monday May 12th, at 10am ET.

As usual, there will be a webcast of the call, or you can dial-in at 877-265-5808 (Conference ID#: 46660772).

Of course, everyone is crossing their fingers - but not holding their breath - that the FCC will have ruled by then.