DreamWorks Animation stock tumbles on possible write-down on ‘Turbo’
Shares of DreamWorks Animation fell more than 7% Monday after analysts said the company could face a write-down after animated film “Turbo” had a disappointing opening weekend at the box office.
“Turbo,” which features the voice of Ryan Reynolds as a snail with dreams of winning the Indy 500, had a sluggish debut, bringing in $21.5 million over its first weekend in release.
Piper Jaffray analyst James Marsh, who has a “neutral” rating on the stock, said the film’s poor box office performance could result in a write-down of $30 million to $50 million.
If that happened, it would be the company’s second write-down on a film this year, after taking an $87- million hit from “Rise of the Guardians” in February. “Weak box office performance like this will likely lead to chatter of a material writedown,” wrote Marsh, in a note to clients.
--By Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times