Six Buys Near 52-Week Highs

SIRI data by YCharts

Sirius XM Radio (SIRI)

Background: Sirius is a digital satellite radio system that broadcasts music and entertainment programming throughout the continental U.S. Sirius was founded in 1990 and trades an average of 93.4 million shares a day and has a market cap of $9.7 billion.

52-Week High: $2.64

In the last month, the stock has really moved higher, gaining 18.8%. The average analyst target price for SIRI is $2.68. A couple of weeks ago, while making new 52-week highs, I discussed Sirius in a similar article Five Buys Near 52-Week Highs.

It appears that Liberty is moving in to take control of Sirius, which is very valuable to Liberty for the NOLs, or operating losses for tax purposes. How this will ultimately play out for average retail investors is uncertain, but based on the moves Liberty has made so far, I would not expect a huge payday. Liberty has played its hand well so far and has not left much on the table.

At least one investor is unhappy about Liberty's actions to take control of Sirius. It appears the city of Miami Police Relief and Pension Fund is suing Sirius for not doing enough to protect non-Liberty shareholders from a takeover.

With that said, look for dips to create buying opportunities in Sirius. It may be smart to hedge with covered call writing. Better safe than sorry when big money is positioning itself, from my vantage point.

Dollar for dollar, Sirius does have the attraction of large percentage moves in its shares. For those with a desire to allocate higher risk capital for greater gains, Sirius may be a stock with clear reception.

The current proportion of the float sold short is about 7%. In the last short interest report on Aug. 15, it had the lowest number of shares short in 2012. About 260 million shares remain shorted.

Note: The author uses SEC.gov, Zacks.com, WSJ.com, Tradestation and Reuters for data. P/E ratios are generally adjusted based on an average number of shares and for operational earnings.

At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

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