DreamWorks Animation beats expectations despite 40% profit drop

DreamWorks Animation posted a nearly 40% drop in profit in the first quarter while revenue remained virtually flat.

For the three months ended March 31, the Glendale studio posted net income of $5.6 million, or 7 cents a share, on revenue of $135 million. That compared with net income of $9.1 million, or 11 cents a share, and revenue of $136.1 million during the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Still, despite the decline in profits the company’s results exceeded what industry analysts had projected. Analysts predicted DreamWorks Animation would post a loss of 3 cents a share.

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“This year is off to an outstanding start for DreamWorks Animation. ‘The Croods’ has reached a blockbuster level of nearly $480 million at the worldwide box office and is well on its way to becoming the number one movie released during the first four months of 2013,� Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive of DreamWorks Animation, said in a statement.

Because “The Croods� was released late in the quarter, it contributed only $4 million of revenue. Fueling results were home video sales from “Rise of the Guardians,� “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted� and revenue from Classic Media’s library titles, which DreamWorks acquired last year.

The first-quarter results were an improvement from the previous quarter, when DreamWorks lost $82 million in part because of the poor results from last year’s “Rise of the Guardians,� for which the studio was forced to take a write-down.
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