Coinstar (NASDAQ:CSTR) Crushed After Hours on Pre-Announcement for Q4

Shares of Coinstar (NASDAQ:CSTR) were hammered after the market closed Thursday, as they gave a preliminary look at their fourth quarter results, and it wasn't pretty, to say the least.

Coinstar's CEO Paul Davis said, "Overall, the performance of the redbox business during the fourth quarter was not in line with our forecast. This was redbox's first holiday season with 28-day delayed titles, and we underestimated the impact that the delay would have on demand during the fourth quarter."

Sales projections for the quarter were lowered from a range of $415 million to $440 million, to close to $391 million. The Street was looking for $427 million.

Concerning earnings, Coinstar said it lowered its prior estimate range of 79 cents to 84 cents to 65 cents to 69 cents. The Street is looking for 84 cents a share.

EPS estimates for full year 2011 were dropped from $3.00 to $3.50 to $2.60 to $310. Sales estimates were lowered from $1.8-$1.95 billion to $1.7-$1.85 billion. The Street at this time is looking for sales of $1.88 billion and EPS of $3.34

Coinstar closed Thursday at $56.95, down 0.28, or 0.49, but was crushed after hours, dropping to $40.90, losing 14.60, or 25.64 percent, as of 5:34 PM EST.