Shares of Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) have been on fire, skyrocketing almost 20% to Friday's close of $5.50 from a recent low of $4.70. So-called "peak auto," where analysts were proclaiming vehicle sales would decline, had taken some horsepower out of SIRI stock. And it certainly didn't help that Sirius management last quarter didn't do what they have done the previous ten quarters or so: raise guidance. And this, to some extent, corroborated the Street's thinking that auto sales hit the skids. But have they?
Impressive May vehicle sales numbers from Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), released on Thursday, suggests that these fears were overstated. On sequential basis, Ford posted a 2.2% sales gain in month-over month auto sales. As have been the case for the past year, Ford's gains were driven by strong results for its SUVs, which set a May record with 74,910 vehicles sold, marking a 4.2% rise year over year. Meanwhile, fleet sales -- primarily made up its popular F-Series trucks -- sold 82,844 vehicles during the month, representing a 8.4% gain.
