Pixar Posts $8.3-Million Net Profit, Beats Forecasts

Pixar Animation Studios, a maker of computer-animated movies, on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter net profit of $8.3 million, beating forecasts, and raised its profit target for 2001.

Pixar, which made the highly successful computer-animated “Toy Story” movies and “A Bug’s Life,” said it now expects to earn between 40 cents and 55 cents a share in 2001, compared with previous projections of 30 cents to 50 cents.

For its first quarter, Pixar earned 16 cents per diluted share, which beat a consensus estimate of 12 cents a share and a range of 11 cents to 14 cents a share, according to seven analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial.

The results compare with earnings of $26.4 million, or 53 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago quarter when Pixar was seeing the effects of the release of “Toy Story 2.” First-quarter revenue of $16.2 million from home video, merchandise, pay-per-view and other ancillary markets compared with $61 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Emeryville, Calif.-based company’s next film, “Monsters Inc.,” is scheduled for a domestic release this fall from Pixar distribution partner Walt Disney Co.