DreamWorks Animation Posts $20.3 Million Profit

DreamWorks Animation SKG, the creator of the “Shrek” films, said it rebounded to a third-quarter profit of $20.3 million, its first quarterly results since raising $812 million in an October initial share sale.Net income for the quarter ended September 30 was 18 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $35.9 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier, Dream-Works Animation said today in a statement.Sales at the Glendale, Calif.-based company rose fivefold to $241.3 million from $47.8 million.DreamWorks Animation’s chief executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has promised investors two computer-animated films each year, more than any other studio. The company’s May release, “Shrek 2,” is the top-grossing film of the year, with more than $441 million in ticket sales in America and Canada. The comedy starring a green ogre now is generating additional revenue from home video.The tail end of “Shrek 2” combined with sales of digital video discs and cassettes of earlier films will be reflected in third-quarter results, a Fulcrum Global Partners analyst, Richard Greenfield, said in an interview before results were announced.The company said yesterday that it delayed the release of “Shrek 3″to May 2007 from November 2006 because a summer box-office release and yearend holiday home-video release will “maximize performance and increase profitability.”The company was expected to earn 16 cents a share, according to the average estimate of three analysts polled by Thomson Financial.Shares of DreamWorks Animation fell as much as $1.40, or 3.5%, to $38.80 in extended trading at 4:41 p.m. New York time.Earlier they rose 60 cents to $40.20 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They’ve jumped 44% through the NYSE close since the company first sold shares to the public at $28 each.Mr. Greenfield, who rates Dream-Works Animation shares “neutral,” estimates that the company will sell 48 million home-video units of “Shrek 2,” with 31 million sold by the end of 2004. The film was released in American and Canadian theaters on May 19 and on home video on November 5, after the end of the third quarter.The company said yesterday that it’s already sold more than 30 million home-video units of “Shrek 2.” It also said “Shark Tale” has generated more than $300 million in worldwide box-office sales since its October 1 opening.The Securities and Exchange Commission deadline for newly public companies to disclose quarterly results is 45 days after the initial sale of shares, said a DreamWorks Animation spokesman, Andrew Spahn.The company’s initial public offering was on October 27.

DreamWorks Animation Posts $20.3 Million Profit

DreamWorks Animation Posts $20.3 Million Profit

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