Hello Friends! Thanks for stopping by! As always, I must remind you to consult with your investment advisor before making any decisions based on anything posted on this website. The investments we discuss may or may not be appropriate for all investors.
Market does NOT have much oomph today. However, scanning the lists of greatest percentage gainers I have found a stock that while I have heard of it before, I do not own any shares of this company nor do any members of my family: Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR).
According to Money.cnn.com, CSTR "...develops, owns & operates network of automated, self-service coin counting and processing machines that provide consumers with convenient means of converting loose coins into cash." As I write, CSTR is trading at $17.18 up $1.66 or 10.70%.
On October 30, 2003, CSTR reported third quarter results for the period ended September 30, 2003. As reported on Business Wire and as posted on the internet by NYTimes on the Web, CSTR reported revenue of $48.7 million vs $42.9 million a year ago. Net income was $6.9 million or $.32/share compared to $8.8 million or $.38/share last year.
CSTR DOES explain that last year CSTR did not pay any income taxes while in the current quarter the effective income tax rate was 37%. If CSTR had had taxes in 2002, the results would have been net income of $5.5 million or $.24/diluted share. This explanation is per the company report; sounds reasonable to me!
Morningstar.com shows a nice sequential growth in revenue from $48 million in 1998, $78 million in 1999, $103 million in 2000, $129 million in 2001, and $156 million in 2002. Earnings/share have improved from ($1.58) in 1998 to $2.58 in 2002.
Free cash flow has improved from $2 million in 2000 to $28 million in 2002. Looking at the balance sheet we find $102.8 million in cash and $12.5 million in other current assets. Current liabilities stand at $89.6 million with long-term liabilities at $21.8 million.
Checking Yahoo.com for "key statistics" on CSTR, we find a trailing p/e at 6.03(!), with forward p/e at 16.00. The PEG ratio is also cheap at 0.96. Price/sales is listed at 1.92.
Currently there are 21.24 million shares outstanding with 20.80 million of them that float. There are a LOT of shares out short, acutally 4.42 million as of 10/8/03 representing 12.53 days of average trading volume. No dividend is paid.
This actually looks like a nice company with a steady growth record that is reasonably priced. I do not own any shares at this time.
Thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to email me if you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement!
Bob