Coinstar Inc.’s first-quarter earnings soared as its Redbox kiosks proved there is still plenty of money to be made renting low-priced DVDs.
The company’s net income rose to $53.7 million, or $1.65 per share, during the first three months of the year. That was up by more than six-fold from $8.5 million, or 26 cents per share, at the same time last year.
Most of the gains flowed from the nearly 37,000 Redbox kiosks that Coinstar has set up in stores to dispense DVDs for $1.20 per month.
Redbox has been picking up more customers since Netflix raised its prices by as much as 60 percent for subscribers who wanted to rent DVDs through the mail, as well as watch video over high-speed Internet connections.
Redbox has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Netflix’s DVD brush-off.
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