DreamWorks Animation Reveals Good News With Q4 Earnings

Proving again what a difference a year makes, DreamWorks Animation Skg Inc DWA released its earnings from Q4 2015 and the news is good…really good.

This time last year, the studio reported a loss of $3.08 per share on $234.2 million revenue. Yet now the company is reporting a gain of $0.55 per share in earnings and $319 million revenue. Industry analysts had been (understandingly) more conservative in predictions projecting a $0.16 EPS rise and revenue of $274 million.

While last month’s “Kung Fu Panda 3” does not count in the Q4 numbers, its success could have been seen as a indicator the studio was righting the ship. Following last year's depressed numbers, DreamWorks Animation re-shuffled its distribution plans and decided to release just one film and re-arrange its release calendar.

That one film, “Home,” went on to shock the box office with a massive opening and begin to silence the studio's critics. “Panda 3” was in turn shifted to January, which spooked some investors as that was outside the release window of the previous two installments in the franchise which each had summer debuts.

CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has also been reminding investors as of late DreamWorks Animation also has a growing TV business (with distribution partners including Nickelodeon and Netflix) to go along with its film and consumer products divisions.

All three divisions made contributions to Tuesday’s earning results.