Blockbuster Inc. Shares Finish at 50 Cents on Heavy Volume (BBI)

Got two quarters?  Congrats, you can now buy one share of Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI), today they finished trading at 50 Cents.  Blockbuster's stock fell 31% today, times have changed for the company that still holds the crown as the largest U.S. movie-rental business.

Volume and selling was screaming on Blockbuster shares today 28.5 million BBI shares have traded hands, that's more than 14X the daily average. Blockbuster (BBI) adjusts expected EBITDA for 2009 to $195 to $205 million which comes out to a net loss of $183 to $193 million. Consumers and Wall Street are not "being kind" to ol' Blockbuster despite their latest advertising and increased inventory efforts.

QUE THE DOWNGRADES
(Benzinga.com) Analysts at Janney Capital Markets downgrade Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to “neutral.” The fair value for BBI has been reduced to $0.75.  The analysts mention that while the news is bad, the bigger concern is that the new guidance “implies that in-store rental comps have actually gotten incrementally worse since 3Q09 despite the aforementioned improvements… Essentially, it appears BBI is losing more market share than expected.” Janney Capital Markets has reduced its EPS estimates for 2009 and 2010 from $(0.72) to $(0.95) and from $(0.20) to $(0.58), respectively.

Blockbuster shares have traded from 13 Cents to $1.56 over the past 12 months. Here's the 5 day chart on BBI: