Net income jumped to $31.5 million, or $1 a share, from $11.7 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier, which included a loss from discontinued operations, the Bellevue, Washington- based company said today in a statement. Analysts projected 65 cents, the average of 10 estimates. Sales rose 33 percent to $520.5 million, beating forecasts of $498 million.

The shares surged on the better-than-expected results and the accord to buy NCR’s DVD business for as much as $100 million. Earlier in the day, Coinstar agreed to join with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) in a joint venture that gives the company a foothold in the fast-growing video-streaming field, along with its industry-leading kiosk business.

The agreements “really put us in a nice position, and we think it will help us expand,” Chief Financial Officer Scott Di Valerio said in an interview.

Coinstar rose as much as 17 percent to $59.10 in extended trading. The stock added 1.8 percent to $50.56 at the close in New York and has gained 11 percent this year. NCR, based in Duluth, Georgia, advanced as much as 10 percent to $20.94 after normal hours. The stock rose 0.3 percent to $19.03 in regular trading and is up 16 percent in 2012.

The Coinstar-Verizon venture will offer video streaming along with rentals from Redbox’s 35,400 kiosks. Redbox will take a 35 percent stake in the business, which will stream movies over the Internet to a variety of devices, according to regulatory filings today.

Cash Investment
Coinstar will make an initial cash investment of $14 million into the business and may add more, according to a regulatory filing. The companies may eventually contribute $450 million, the filings said.
This quarter, Coinstar forecast sales of $530 million to $555 million and profit of 76 cents to 91 cents a share, excluding some items. Analysts are estimating 93 cents and sales of $518.9 million on that basis.
Redbox raised prices in October, boosting the charge for a standard DVD by 20 percent to $1.20 per day to cover increases in fees paid for debit-card transactions. The higher price for a single-day DVD rentals and fewer than expected debit-card transactions contributed to the results, Di Valerio said.

Time Warner Demand
The company last week rejected Time Warner Inc. (TWX)’s demand that Redbox wait 56 days before renting new Warner Bros. movie releases. Coinstar said it will get the videos from third-party suppliers and make them available as soon as they go on sale.

The company expects to get new videos into its kiosks within seven to 10 days of their release, Di Valerio said. Redbox will pursue only those Warner titles likely to attract consumers to the kiosks, Chief Executive Officer Paul Davis said on a conference call.

Redbox had waited 28 days to get videos from Warner under the previous deal. The unit still waits 28 days for DVDs from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures and News Corp.’s Fox. Walt Disney Co., Viacom Inc.’s Paramount and Sony Corp. make their DVDs available for rental on the day of release.

With the agreement, Redbox will acquire NCR’s kiosk business, which operated 10,000 kiosks as of November, along with software and services, Coinstar said.

In May, NCR sued a trust set up for Blockbuster Inc., sold to satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. (DISH), to retain rights to the Blockbuster Express name used on the rental service.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net

Redbox will bolster its movie-kiosk business by acquiring Blockbuster Express.

NCR is a company that specializes in automatic teller machines and retail kiosks. If you used one of those self-serve ticket machines at an airport, chances are you’ve used an NCR product. The company began operating more than 10,000 Blockbluster Express DVD kiosks after acquiring the brand from the original Blockbuster video rental service (Blockbuster went bankrupt and the brand and some of its stores were acquired last year by the Dish Network). Apparently, NCR couldn’t make a go of it.

In October, Homemediamagazine.com reported that NCR reported a $13 million operating loss on sales of $42 million.

According to the press release issued today by Redbox and parent company Coinstar, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2012.

“The acquisition includes the purchase of the DVD kiosks, certain retailer contracts, and DVD inventory,” Redbox said in a statement. “In connection with the asset purchase, Coinstar and NCR also will enter into a strategic supplier arrangement where Coinstar will purchase product and services from NCR.”

Redbox is doubling down on DVDs at a time when video-renting rival Netflix is acting as if the discs are all but dead. Two weeks ago, during Netflix’s conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said: “We expect DVD subscribers to decline steadily every quarter, forever.”

The way Netflix tells it, the public has lost interest in DVDs. Last year, Hastings came close to spinning off his DVD operations under a different brand (Qwikster) and has said repeatedly that streaming video over the Web is the future of home entertainment. Some analysts and Netflix critics have cautioned that plenty of people still want DVDs and argue plenty of profit can be found in renting them.

Coinstar and Redbox obviously agree with that.

Of course, Redbox announced today that the company is also joining forces with Verizon to create an on-demand video streaming service similar to Netflix’s service. Since the companies were offered few details about the start-up, it’s hard to say what it’s chances might be. Regardless, the joint venture has plenty of ground to make up.

Netflix is in command of the Web-streaming sector and Hastings needs the DVD to finally get out of his way. If more consumers give up on DVDs and opt for Internet streaming, at this point Hastings can be confident that they will choose his service.

His service is available on hundreds of Web-connected TVs, phones, videogame consoles, and set-top boxes. He’s already got a huge audience, with more than 24 million subscribers.

For the amount of content Netflix offers, none of his competitors can match his price. Netflix offers all-you-can-eat streaming for $8 per month. Netflix’s achilles heel is that a subscriber can grow tired fairly quickly of the company’s dated titles.

Nonetheless, i doubt that Verizon and Redbox will manage to mount a serious challenge to Netflix any time soon.

They will face the same problems that have confronted other Netflix rivals.

It’s true that the major studios and the producers of popular TV shows want to see a larger number of competitors enter the streaming sector. They just don’t want them to offer their most popular shows and films for the same low price Netflix charges.

The studios are trying to encourage Web video services to offer streaming movies for sale. They want movies rented on a transactional basis and not for a bulk rate which is what Netflix does. Obviously, the margins are better on a $14 movie sale or when someone pays $3.99 to rent a movie for a 24-hour period.

The problem for Netflix challengers, the ones who have tried offering movies in this way, struggle to find an audience. Has Netflix already got us hooked on subscription viewing?

It’s probably too early to determine that. What we do know is that Redbox managers seem determined to seize control of what remains of the DVD-rental sector. And Hastings appears satisfied to let them have it.

Source::

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57372197-261/redbox-pays-$100-million-for-ncrs-blockbuster-express/

Coinstar’s redbox is the most popular source of DVD and Blu-ray disc rentals, according to an NPD survey released Thursday.

Although redbox is beating its competitors, NPD’s VideoWatch tracker, which surveyed more than 38,600 movie renters and an additional 74,000 Blu-ray renters, found that the number of consumers getting their movies from streaming services is increasing.

In fact, NPD said that consumer rentals of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fell by 11 percent versus the prior year and that one in three video rentals occurred either online or via on-demand cable. DVD rentals are still No. 1, however, according to Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis for NPD.

“The movie-rental market is clearly undergoing a sea change, as consumers become better equipped to access on-demand and streamed movies and are more comfortable with available delivery options,” he said in a statement. “Even so renting physical discs from now-ubiquitous kiosks in grocery stores and other venues has taken the lead as the most popular movie-rental method in the U.S.”

Redbox increased its market share from 25 percent a year ago to 37 percent in 2011, and its unit volume climbed 29 percent, despite price hikes, according to PC Magazine.

On the other hand, Blockbuster’s share fell 6 percentage points to 17 percent in 2011. Even Netflix saw its share fall to a two-year low of 25 percent after it announced price hikes and its decision to separate out its DVD and streaming businesses.

Source:

http://www.kioskmarketplace.com/article/189499/Study-redbox-is-still-king

Redbox kiosks have popped up at every neighborhood block in the country practically overnight! There seems to be one in every grocery store, liquor store and 7/11 in the nation.These free-standing, vibrantly red kiosks offer tons of new movie titles for cheap and are require absolutely no membership, making them appealing to many who don’t use traditional movie rental stores anymore. But how does the new kid on the block stand up against industry veteran Netflix and their disc rental service? Read on to find out!

Background

Netflix first offerings was DVD via mail rentals, but the service has since then expanded to Internet streaming movies and TV shows. As the originator of such a service, it was only a matter of time until it began to see some competition. Redbox is one of those competitors. It’s a movie kiosk rental service that places its little kiosks in grocery stores, in front of liquor stores and more. You walk up to it, select a movie from its pre-loaded selection, pay and your DVD (or Blu-Ray) disk pops out. There are even video games in some of those red kiosks for gamers to rend nightly for a fairly low price. There are more than 333,000 kiosks in more than 27,800 locations (so Redbox states).

User Friendly

It doesn’t get any easier than walking up to your local Redbox kiosk, taking a look at the title selection on its touchscreen, selecting your movie(s), imputing your payment info and then grabbing the discs from the slot at the side of the machine. Returning is just as easy, too! Go back to the same location (or another if you’d like since each disc has an electronic bar code/security tag on it that tracks it when it’s rented or returned), return the title on the touchscreen and pop it right back into that slide slot. Volia! You’re done.

For Netflix, set up an account online, choose what type of membership you’d like (disc rental service ONLY, streaming online content ONLY, or both) and begin enjoying your favorite TV shows, documentaries and movies. Create a wish list for you mailed discs and they’ll send you your wish list movies. With no due date, send them back whenever you want and then the process starts all over again (you also have the option order more than one disc at a time, but for more cash).

Winner: Tie

Compatible Devices

Since Redbox kiosks offer DVDs, Blu-rays and video games for gaming consoles like Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, if you have a DVD or Blu-ray player or the aforementioned consoles, you’re good to go. The rentals can also be seen in in-car systems that have video players and we can’t forget computers and personal DVD devices. Netflix has pretty much the same compatible devices for its disc rental program since it also has Blu-ray titles (no games though).

Winner: Tie

Titles

Redbox kiosks have limited space for disc in their red free-standing stations, so title selection won’t be in-depth. They will, however, carry lots of newer releases and some oldie but goodies depending on the kiosk (each has its own inventory). But if you’re looking for a specific title or want to make sure that new movie you’re looking for is available at your local kiosk, you can go online and look up what that kiosk is loaded with. You can even place it on hold online so that no one else snatches it up before you get there.

Netflix has way more titles than Redbox. It’s said they have more than 100,000 titles on DVD and Blu-ray, so you can easily rent that hard-to-find movie you’d like to see again. Plus they have TV shows in their title library, which is something Redbox doesn’t have.

Winner: Netflix has a larger title library than Redbox’s kiosks.

Membership Perks

Like everything else on Earth, Redbox has its own online site where you can create a username and password to check out what kiosks have, place your favorite titles on hold or trek down that coveted movie to a kiosk that you’ve been dying to see. Once you sign up, you’ll also receive promo codes for free rentals and the sort. When you reserve a title at your local kiosk for the first time, you do get to rent it for only a $1 (one-time only promo, but still a deal). Signing up is free, too.

Netflix offers more variety in terms of membership packages like the choice to add streaming online content to the disc rental program. Plus it offers a month of free service to test it out and allows you to halt subscription for a few months if you’re going on vacation, etc.

Winner: Netflix since its membership offers more than just disc rentals.

Content

Sorry TV show lovers, Redbox is a movie-only rental service (with video games thrown in, too). Netflix, on the other hand, offers movies and TV shows and documentaries. It has huge licensing deals with FOX, NBC, ABC and more.

Winner: Netflix has features more content.

Speed of Service

Redbox provides instant service (that is if you don’t have to wait in line for the kiosk). You can rent/return movies any time of the day or night you’d like (but there is a due date before you get charged extra days) depending on store hours (if its inside and not outside). You get instant gratification with Redbox, allowing you to go rent a movie when you want to see it and return it two hours later once you’re done. With Netflix, you have to wait a bit for the disc to be mailed to you so it’ll take a few days for your disc to show up in your mailbox. But Netflix doesn’t have any due dates or late rental fees for keeping the discs too long as Redbox does.

Winner: Redbox offers instant gratification over Netflix, so it wins here.

Quality

Redbox’s discs are good to go right out of the kiosk, but some might come scratched, broken or won’t play since so many people rent them, but if you get one of these and sent something to customer service regarding your problem. You can also call the customer service line and you’ll probably be given a rental credit or even reimbursed. For those with Blu-ray players can opt for Blu-ray disc rentals (for a price increase, though). Netflix is pretty much the same here.

Winner: Tie

Limitations

Redbox is ONLY a disc rental service with no streaming content available on its site. There are some rumors that it might have that option in the future, but for now, discs only. Another limitation is that you must return disc back by 9 p.m. the following day or else you’ll get charged for an extra day. Netflix is a membership service that requires a monthly fee, which might not do well for some who don’t like to be constrained to monthly obligations since they take out the fees from your checking account each month.

Winner: Netflix’s membership isn’t that bad and those who sign up know what they’re getting themselves into.

Price

To rent at Redbox, you’ll have to spend $1.20 a movie, $1.50 for Blu-ray discs and $2 for games. Rentals used to be $0.99, but they’ve recently increased their price, but it’s still not that bad. But if you go online to reserve a movie at your local kiosk, you’ll get your first rental for only $1. Since Netflix is a membership service, you’re charged monthly for whatever package you choose, which include: unlimited streaming movies OR unlimited one-disc at a time rentals for $7.99 ($11.99 for two disc rentals at a time) and $15.98 if you desire to have both of Netflix’s disc and streaming content. Blu-ray discs are an extra $2 a month.

Winner: Redbox rentals are still pretty cheap compared to VOD ones and doesn’t require any monthly memberships so it’s easier on the wallet than Netflix.

Overall Winner

It seems even though Redbox is cheap, offers new releases and provides instant gratification since you can pick up a movie at a local kiosk, Netflix’s disc rental service still provides more bang for your buck! True movie lovers will enjoy having more titles to choose from and the ability to keep movies for as long as they’d like rather than rushing to watch Redbox rentals before the next day due date to avoid extra charges. While Redbox is a great service, Netflix still seems to beat out its competition.

Source:

http://www.gadgetreview.com/2012/01/netflix-vs-redbox.html

Warner Bros.’ deal with Redbox has expired with the two companies still at odds over how long consumers should wait to rent DVDs for $1.20 a night.

As a result, kiosk rental company Redbox will have to buy Warner DVDs from retailers like Wal-Mart at a higher price but will no longer make customers wait 28 days after discs go on sale to rent them, as it did under a previous agreement with the studio.

The two sides were clashing earlier this month when Warner Bros. announced it would sell its DVDs and Blu-ray discs only to rental companies that agreed to wait until 56 days after they go on sale. Warner executives believe that the delay encourages consumers to buy DVDs and Blu-rays or rent movies via video-on-demand, both of which are more profitable transactions for the studio at a time when home entertainment revenue has been shrinking for years.

Two years ago, after a similar dispute, Redbox agreed to the 28-day delay in order to buy movies directly from Warner Bros. at a discount. But Redbox has concluded that 56 days is too long to make its consumers — who often look for new releases in the red kiosks — wait.

In a statement, Redbox senior vice president of marketing Gary Cohen said the company “will work to provide Warner Bros.’ movies through alternate means.” That will most likely mean buying the discs in bulk from retailers or other distributors who charge more than the studio when it sells directly.

A Warner Bros. spokesman fired back in a statement: “The consumer is best served by a windowing and pricing structure that ensures a healthy film business continuing to deliver quality movies. We hope to continue discussions with Redbox and reach a mutually agreed upon solution to this situation, but we fully intend to do what is best for our business, our consumers and the industry as a whole.”

A person close to the matter but not authorized to speak publicly said the companies had continued talks in hopes of reaching a compromise throughout January. But the two sides could not find common ground and consequently don’t currently plan on having more discussions.

Among other major retailers, Netflix agreed to abide by the 56-day delay, but Blockbuster has not, meaning it too will have to buy Warner discs from other sources.

Redbox currently has direct deals with all other Hollywood studios, but its agreement with Universal Pictures expires in April. Universal currently imposes a 28-day delay, and it’s not yet known whether it will, like Warner, try to extend it longer.

The first Warner Bros. release that Redbox will have to acquire through “alternate means” is “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas,” which comes out on DVD on Feb. 7.

Separately, Redbox announced Tuesday that it extended a deal to feature its kiosks at 3,700 Wal-Mart stores through January 2015.

– Ben Fritz

Photo: A family at a Redbox kiosk. Credit: Redbox

Source:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/01/redbox-warner-deal-expires-ending-28-day-delay.html

Russ Crupnick, SVP of industry analysis for The NPD Group, summed up the firm’s findings thusly:

“There’s no doubt that Redbox has been the largest beneficiary of the collapsing brick-and-mortar store rental business, especially with ongoing Blockbuster store closings and the fact that there are also fewer independent stores than the prior year . . . The Netflix share erosion may have resulted from their recent well publicized challenges with pricing, and from their now-defunct Qwikster experiment; however, they are in the process of shifting customers to their Watch Instantly option, so not the entire physical movie rental share drop is a net loss.”

Even with the rising ubiquity of streaming movie options, Crupnick says that demand for movie disc rentals remains strong:

“The movie-rental market is clearly undergoing a sea change, as consumers become better equipped to access on-demand and streamed movies and are more comfortable with available delivery options . . . Even so, renting physical discs from now-ubiquitous kiosks in grocery stores and other venues have taken the lead as the most popular movie-rental method in the U.S.”

How will 2012 shake out for Redbox? Will we continue to see banner growth from them

(via Home Media Magazine)

Port Washington, N.Y. (PRWEB) January 19, 2012

According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, U.S. consumer rental of movies in DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats fell by 11 percent in 2011, versus the prior year, and the landscape of retailers has shifted dramatically. The leader in physical-disc rentals was Redbox, whose unit volume increased by 29 percent year over year; as a result, Redbox’s share of DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals rose from 25 percent in 2010 to 37 percent in 2011.

NPD’s VideoWatch consumer tracker indicates that much of the share gains came from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Blockbuster, whose share fell 6 percentage points to 17 percent in 2010. Netflix’ share of DVD and Blu-ray rentals was flat for the year at 30 percent; however, in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011 the company reached a two-year low of 25 percent.

“There’s no doubt that Redbox has been the largest beneficiary of the collapsing brick-and-mortar store rental business, especially with ongoing Blockbuster store closings and the fact that there are also fewer independent stores than the prior year,” said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president, industry analysis for The NPD Group. “The Netflix share erosion may have resulted from their recent well publicized challenges with pricing, and from their now defunct Quikster experiment; however, they are in the process of shifting customers to their Watch Instantly option, so not all of the physical movie rental share drop is a net loss.”

In fact, according to NPD’s VideoWatch Digital tracking service, nearly one in three paid movie rentals (31 percent) now come from paid video-on-demand (VOD) options. Netflix is the dominant provider of paid digital movie rentals, posting a 55 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2011, though Netflix’s share is down somewhat from the company’s peak of 59 percent in Q2 and Q3 2011.

“The movie-rental market is clearly undergoing a sea change, as consumers become better equipped to access on-demand and streamed movies and are more comfortable with available delivery options,” Crupnick said. “Even so renting physical discs from now-ubiquitous kiosks in grocery stores and other venues has taken the lead as the most popular movie-rental method in the U.S.”

Findings reported in this press release reflect movie rentals only, and do not include rentals of television shows or series; nor do they include free movies from over-the-top television (OTT) or cable providers. All findings are based on information compiled from 38,637 digital movie renters and 74,008 DVD/BD movie renters from NPD’s online consumer panel. The data has been weighted and projected to reflect the U.S. population (age 13 and older).

About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food, home and office, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at https://twitter.com/npdgroup.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/1/prweb9120034.htm

Yesterday, it was reported that Verizon was planning a Netflix competitor and in talks with various content producers to provide the streams and downloads. TechCrunch has obtained additional information on this story that makes the concept a bit more realistic and should alleviate some of the concerns noted by critics and consumers yesterday.

Our source says that Verizon is in fact planning a major partnership with RedBox, whose fast-growing business of $1 (now $1.20) DVD-rental kiosks has made it a major player in the content distribution game. They aim to debut a TV and movie streaming and download service this coming May.

The service is called Project Zoetrope internally, and will be a subscription, streaming, and downloading service for TV and movies that will be available on a broad variety of platforms: they plan support for iOS, Android, Google TV, Xbox, Roku and other streaming boxes, and browsers. “Set-top boxes,” by which they mean more traditional digital cable boxes, are not supported; this is an internet service, not a broadcast service.

It will stream in SD or HD to all of these devices, and local storage of video will be enabled for mobile devices and tablets. It is still in talks with content providers and will be following their lead on blackouts and release timing; this won’t be a quick-release channel for new movies or live TV, for instance.
Launch is planned for May 28th, with a beta starting in late April. Pricing is expected to be monthly and credit-based, e.g. $5.95 per month for 6 credits, which could be used to rent X movies or Y shows. There will be several tiers and some will include physical disc rentals, and of course there will be ways to purchase more shows if necessary.

For those who were skeptical of yesterday’s rumors, this should come as some kind of reassurance. Verizon has little to no branding in the on-demand movies and TV world, while RedBox is immediately recognizable and synonymous with simplicity and value. Redbox, however, has little in the way of TV shows, so Verizon is probably doing much of the heavy lifting on that side, and of course on the delivery infrastructure front.

You don’t need the investing acumen of Warren Buffett or the riches of a trust-fund baby to achieve financial success.

Small sums of money invested monthly in undervalued small-cap stocks offer hope for your greatest returns. They offer the best growth opportunities for growth because the big investors mostly ignore them.

I’ve screened for stocks with less than a $3 billion in market cap and that offered earnings surprises of 15% or more in the previous quarter, with long-term earnings growth forecasted to be at least 15%. I’ll then filter my findings through the collective investing wisdom of the 180,000 members in our Motley Fool CAPS community.

Here are some of the stocks this simple screen found:

Company

Market Cap

EPS Actual vs. Estimated

Average Analyst 5-Year EPS Estimate

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

Coinstar (Nasdaq: CSTR )

$1.4 billion

33%

19%

**

Glu Mobile (Nasdaq: GLUU )

$197 million

83%

30%

**

Universal Display (Nasdaq: PANL )

$2.3 billion

1300%

25%

***

Sources: Yahoo.com and Motley Fool CAPS.

Of course, this is not a list of stocks to buy — just a starting point for more research. We need to look more closely at these companies to see whether analysts’ faith in them is well-founded.

A link to the future
Did they learn nothing from Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX ) ? Coinstar’s kiosk movie-rental division Redbox scored a big bounce following the PR debacle suffered by the movies-by-mail king, which imperiously raised prices and started charging fees for content that was previously free. You would have thought Coinstar would be smart enough to capitalize on that ugly chapter, but you’d be wrong.

Although it saw profits surge 90% in the third quarter as consumers flocked to its kiosks after fleeing Netflix, Coinstar followed up with a price increase of its own. That and below-expectations profit forecasts for the fourth quarter led the stock to sell off.

Of course, Coinstar’s not completely to blame. You can thank Congress for that, since the misguided debit-card-fee reform they passed is causing pricing problems to pop up elsewhere. Previously free banking services, for example, now may carry a price tag. Companies are passing their new, higher costs along to consumers. That is the true cost of government regulation.

The $0.20 increase in DVD rentals seems hardly prohibitive to consumers continuing to rent from the kiosk, though, and CAPS member BlueEyesGuy33 thinks there was an overreaction.

CSTR smashed Q3 Earnings projections. Then stock price fell roughly 15% due to market’s thinking people won’t pay $0.20 more to rent a DVD. Although it is a 20% increase in price; the increase is relatively small in terms of cash outlay to the consumer. I believe the market got this one wrong. Redbox will not lose customers over 20 cents. Stock price will be up over the next 3 months or so.

I agree and marked Coinstar to outperform on CAPS, but let us know in the comments section below or on the Coinstar CAPS page what you think. Also add it to your watchlist to be notified of the latest developments.

Smart thinking
The growing dominance of Google’s Android OS in smartphones is also propelling smartphone -game maker Glu Mobile forward. Where the OS owns nearly half of the smartphone market — Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL ) iOS is a distant second at 27% — Glu has seen its market segment shift from feature phones to smartphones, which now also accounts for 57% of its revenues, and Android sales doubled from 15% to 30% of the total.

Glu will be devoting fewer resources to the feature-phone segment while pouring more into mobile computing platforms like the iPad. It’s also piling on the “freemium” model — or the free-to-play, pay-to-play-more way of doing things. Freemium revenues grew to $8.1 million from a little more than half a million last year.

The drag on Glu’s performance, however, is it has yet to turn a profit. Rivals PopCap, which was recently bought by Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS ) , and Zynga already generate income.

CAPS member FormFactor believes the game maker has been unfairly beaten down.

Over sold based on current market valuations vs long term outlook, short and long term buy at $3.66 as of 02Nov2011 closing price. 3 day trend upward as of close on 02Nov2011. This one is not done running. Small cap but a global player. One to watch.

Add Glu Mobile to your watchlist, and let us know in the comments section below whether you think the stock belongs in a balanced portfolio.

Rising fortunes
OLED screen technologist Universal Display has been on something of a roller-coaster ride lately, as potential deals get squashed and confirmed. If it’s not analysts dismissing the likelihood of an imminent agreement with Apple, it’s short-sellers critiquing a new agreement with Samsung. It took Universal’s third-quarter earnings report to lay both negative threads to rest: Profits are being generated by its current business, with worldwide patents remaining intact, showing that although an Apple deal would be nice, it’s not essential for growth.

Though CAPS All-Star DarthMaul09 likes Universal’s business, he finds the stock’s volatility of particular interest to day-traders these days. But barakn isn’t so sure it’s sustainable.

The company will be reporting “earnings” soon but hasn’t made a profit in its 15 year history. It looks like they recently bungled their deal with Samsung and will not be making royalties, and Apple didn’t bite. They are starting to lose court cases on their patents. Meanwhile a bunch of company insiders recently exercised options and sold between the $50-60 range. If they don’t expect the stock to break out of that range any time soon, why should we?

Add the panel maker to the Fool’s free portfolio tracker, and tell us on the Universal Display CAPS page your thoughts about its supply agreements and the short sellers who short the stock.

Foolish final thoughts
Stock investing is not brain surgery. Finding good, undervalued companies is not as difficult as the professionals want you to think. You just have to commit to starting now, and do so regularly. Now’s the time to begin!

Mutual funds for people who HATE mutual funds! Stick four of your best analysts in a basement, turn ‘em loose and let ‘em start a mutual fund company. Sound crazy? Maybe, but you should learn more about Motley Fool Funds before you decide! Enter your email address to receive Declarations, the FREE Motley Fool Funds newsletter! Each month, you’ll get market commentary from Bill Mann, Motley Fool Funds Portfolio Manager (and former lead advisor of Motley Fool Global Gains), plus top holdings, performance data and more. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry… and maybe you’ll decide you don’t hate mutual funds after all.

Source:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/15/amass-a-fortune-with-these-stocks.aspx

Say goodbye to $1-per-night DVD rentals.

Kiosk rental company Redbox said Thursday it is raising its standard price to $1.20 a day to cope with rising costs.

The company’s first price increase since it launched eight years ago comes as Redbox reported strong results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30, possibly fueled by the gaffes of its primary competitor, subscription service Netflix. Redbox revenue during the quarter jumped 28% from a year earlier to $389.8 million, while operating income rose 56% to $83.5 million.

Redbox may face more challenges in the future, however, as several studios that already forbid it from renting their DVDs until 28 days after they go on sale — including 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. — are considering extending that delay to as much as 60 days in an effort to boost more profitable sales and video-on-demand rentals.

Such a move would make it more difficult for Redbox, which has 34,400 kiosks nationwide, to draw consumers interested in recently released movies.

Warners’ deal ends first, in January, followed by Universal’s in April. Redbox Interim President Gregg Kaplan said in an interview that he would oppose any extension of the rental “window” and would consider buying discs from retail locations if those studios decline to sell to them directly for a period longer than 28 days.

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate have recently extended their agreements to allow Redbox to rent their movies the day they go on sale. Those studios believe they make more money by partnering with Redbox than they are losing from people who opt for low-cost rentals instead of pricier alternatives.

Shares in Redbox’s parent company Coinstar Inc. slipped 10% in after-hours trading, as investors were disappointed in its guidance for the current quarter.

[Updated at 4:40 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that Redbox is raising the price of Blu-ray disc rentals to $2 per night. In fact they remain $1.50 per night.]

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– Ben Fritz

Photo: Anja Murphy returns videos to a Redbox kiosk in an Albertsons supermarket in Santa Monica. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times