(Source: biz.yahoo.com)
DreamWorks Animation reported a $10 million net profit for its third quarter, which ended September 30th, 2006.
Strong pay TV sales of the Aardman Animation movie Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, plus impressive DVD sales of Madagascar contributed to the company's success.
DreamWorks' latest DVD, Over the Hedge, is selling well. It's expected to contribute the bulk of the company's fortunes over the next quarter. DreamWorks will also release its last collaboration with Aardman, Flushed Away, on November 3rd.
DreamWorks' performance was a vast improvement over the same time last year, when the company lost $0.7 million.
Thomson Financial analysts had expected the Glendale-based company to suffer another loss.
Katzenberg was optimistic about 2007, even though the company's biggest movie, Shrek the Third, will open right between two gigantic summer movies, Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
"We never underestimate the quality and performance of the competition," Katzenberg told analysts. "The moviegoing marketplace can certainly accommodate all three of these films."
Analysts, such as Merrill Lynch's Jessica Reif Cohen, have pushed DreamWorks stock in the last several weeks, changing its rating from "neutral" to "buy." The studio's strong upcoming slate, plus a relatively painless resolution with investor Paul Allen, was cited as a reason for the change.
