Coinstar profit drops in 4Q

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) -- Coinstar Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit fell 27 percent due to poor performance at its new ventures. It forecast disappointing earnings ahead, and its shares tumbled in after-hours trading Thursday.

The company, based in Bellevue, Wash., owns the Redbox DVD kiosks and its namesake coin-counting sites. It also offers DVD rentals through additional kiosks that it acquired from NCR Corp. in June. Coinstar recently expanded its business to include streaming movies, a ticket-selling service and kiosk coffee dispensers. The new ventures took a toll on profitability during the quarter.

Net income was $22.9 million, or 75 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31. That's down from the $31.5 million, or $1 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales rose 8.4 percent to $564.1 million on gains at Redbox kiosks.

Analysts forecast 74 cents per share on revenue of $577.2 million.

Coinstar expects to earn 77 to 92 cents per share from continuing operations in the first quarter on revenue of $568 million to $593 million. Analysts polled by FactSet estimated $1.22 per share on revenue of $628.8 million.

For the full year the company expects to make $4.91 to $5.51 per share on revenue of $2.38 billion to $2.56 billion. Analysts forecast earnings of $5.15 per share on revenue of $2.5 billion.

Coinstar shares fell $4.53, or 8.7 percent, to $47.57 in after-hours trading.