Coinstar, Google: After-Hours Trading

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A Shares of Coinstar(CSTR) surged in late trades on Thursday after the Bellevue, Wash.-based company offered up an above-consensus outlook for the first quarter.

The company, whose businesses include the operation of coin-counting machines and Redbox DVD rental kiosks, sees core earnings from continuing operations of $1.36 to $1.40 a share on revenue of $567 million to $569.2 million for the three months ended March 31. That compares to the current average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for a profit of 90 cents a share on revenue of $537.7 million.

Coinstar attributed the forecast, which also exceeds its earlier guidance, to strong DVD demand from consumers in February and March, showing growing acceptance of the price increase the company put in place in October 2011, as well as lower than expected card processing fees and better operating efficiencies at Redbox.

The stock was last quoted at $69.62, up nearly 14%, on volume of more than 750,000, according to Nasdaq.com.

For the full year, Coinstar sees core earnings from continuing operations of $4.40 to $4.80 a share on revenue ranging from $2.16 billion to $2.28 billion. Wall Street is presently looking for a profit of $4.09 a share in fiscal 2012 on revenue of $2.22 billion.

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