Coinstar Earnings Preview

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Coinstar (NAS: CSTR) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, April 26. Coinstar is a multi-national company that offers a range of solutions for retailers' storefronts including self-service coin counting, entertainment services, self-service DVD kiosks, money transfer services, and electronic payment services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Coinstar, with 11 of 17 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.

  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $563.5 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 32.9% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.43 per share. Estimates range from $1.37 to $1.65.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 85.2% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 85.8% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Over the past month, Fools have logged just four posts on Coinstar. The tone of their comments has generally been positive. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Coinstar, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.


Management:
Coinstar's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 98% over the past five quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The company's net margins have been increasing year-over-year for the last four quarters. Net margins reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit. See how Coinstar has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

29.7%

33.4%

32.8%

25.7%

Operating Margin

10.5%

14.1%

13.4%

7.4%

Net Margin

6.1%

8.0%

6.1%

2.0%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Coinstar movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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