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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