HOT PROPERTIES

If you’re a video fiend, you’ve no doubt already discovered. Blockbuster Videos, the hands-down champ in the video rental business that offers some 7,000 to 12,000 video selections (compared to the measly 500 to 2,000 titles stocked by most neighborhood stores). What you might not know is thai Blockbuster may also he a blockbuster of an investment. Dallas-based Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation, which developed the superstore concept in 1985, was a tiny baby among cutthroats in me video rental market last year, doing $8 million in business and losing $1.25 per share. But this year is a very different story. Analysts predict Blockbuster will have a $41 million year in 1987 and will do $105 million in 1988, which will put it neck and neck with the industry leader, Erol’s of Washington. D.C

Analyst R. Jerry Falkner with Lovett Mitchell Webb & Garrison Inc. recently upgraded, his earnings predictions for the company and thinks it could earn between $1.05 and $1.10 per share in 1987 and as much as $3.00 per share in 1988. With news like that, the stock, which sold at $18.50 in mid-June, rose to $33.50 by the end of July. And the soaring’s not over, folks. Some analysts are predicting Blockbuster will sell above $45 in the next twelve months.