Waiting on Blockbuster 's Q4 Earnings Call (BBI)

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) shares are stuck at 37 cents per share, waiting for the Q4 earnings call today that can make or break this penny stock.

Perhaps the best analyst call today comes from Needham & Co. which said "If traffic doesn't pick up by mid-year, "we may just kiss this whole (Blockbuster Inc.) story good-bye. We got a dead-man-walking situation here."

Analysts are not expecting stellar numbers from Blockbuster today, the Street expects the company to lose around 14 Cents in Q4 which is almost 40% of their current share price. Blockbuster really lowered expectations when the company announced last month expected EBITDA for 2009 should range between $195 to $205 million which comes out to a net loss of $183 to $193 million.

Blockbuster's December efforts to load up on inventory and ramp up its marketing budget failed to drive holiday sales. The company reduced its guidance for all of 2009, and the retailer is back in cost-cutting mode in 2010. Several top executives were recently laid off.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
S&P cut Blockbuster's (BBI) corporate credit last week rating two steps to CCC, eight steps below investment grade, and assigned the company a negative outlook, indicating an additional downgrade may be likely over the coming 12-to-18 months.

"The negative outlook reflects our expectations for performance to likely remain very weak for at least the near term and for credit metrics to deteriorate substantially," S&P said in a statement.

Blockbuster's debt has been volatile since the company warned in January that its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2009 earnings would be sharply lower than expected, causing its bonds to halve in value.

Come today its make it or break it time, best of luck playing the call and we'll see if Blockbuster either goes bust or moves away from being just another penny stock.