Sirius Sounds Off (TGT, NKE, SIRI, AIG)

Target Corporation(NYSE:TGT) shares are trading higher by about 0.80% after the company lifted its earnings outlook for the first quarter following a strong increase in its same-store sales growth for the month of March. The company lifted its first-quarter adjusted earnings estimates to $1.04 - $1.10,, up from its prior guidance of $0.97 - $1.07, ahead of analysts’ estimates of $0.97 per share. The company currently expects GAAP earnings per share in the range of $0.96 - $1.02, compared with prior guidance range of $0.88 - $0.98.For the month of March, the company reported a 7.305 jump in its comparable-store sales. Net sales stood at $6.427 billion, a rise of 7.9 percent from $5.955 billion last year.

NIKE, Inc.(NYSE:NKE) shares are trading higher by 0.77% to $110.33 on high volume. Earlier this week, the company unveiled its Nike Elite 51 football uniforms for the 2012 NFL season. According to the company, the baselayer, padding, jersey and pant work are in concert in the new uniform. Lightweight padding is also integrated directly into the "hit zones" in the baselayer. The stock has been showing strong uptrend since the beginning of this year and jumped 14.50% year-to-date.Last month, the company had reported better than estimated third-quarter earnings with a profit of $560 million, or $1.20 a share, from $523 million, or $1.08, a year earlier, ahead of analysts’ estimates of $1.17 a share. Gross margin during the quarter declined by 2% to 43.80%.

Sirius XM Radio Inc(NASDAQ:SIRI) shares are popping up over 2.50% to $2.35 on very high volume and broken the recent resistance of $2.33. This morning, the company said that it has reached a multi-year agreement with MLB Advanced Media, L.P. to stream live radio broadcasts of every Major League Baseball game on smartphones, mobile devices and online for SiriusXM subscribers nationwide. With this agreement, SiriusXM becomes the Official Internet Radio Partner of MLB.com. So far this year, shares of SIRI have jumped over 285 and has a 52-week range of $1.27-$2.44.
American International Group, Inc.(NYSE:AIG) shares rose 1.60% to $33.04, extending its weekly gains to over 17%. The U.S. government’s pay czar approved an unchanged $10.5 million salary for Chief Executive Robert Benmosche for 2011, though the company showed his total compensation rose 66% using another method for calculating pay.
Yesterday, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is considering selling assets in its Maiden Lane III LLC portfolio, which were assumed in the government bailout of American International Group Inc.