Coinstar announces deal with WalMart

Coinstar said that it will install 100 of its self-service coin-counting kiosks in Wal-Mart stores on a test basis in the coming months. While they don't yet have a long-term agreement from the retail giant, shares gained $4.24 to close at $23.47 after the announcement. Seems as though Coinstar's stockholders would really, really like Coinstar to start deploying kiosks to Wal-Mart's 3,000+ US locations.

This quarter the company earned $6.8 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $118.7 million, for the third quarter. Excluding items, the company would have earned 30 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 28 cents a share on sales of $117 million. A year earlier, Coinstar earned $6.6 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $106.4 million," as reported here.