Animation film studio’s shares swim ahead 11% after results

PIXAR

LOS ANGELES—

Pixar shares rose more than 11 per cent after the computer-animation film studio said third-quarter profit topped its forecast on television and home- video sales of the undersea tale Finding Nemo.

Pixar, run by chief executive Steven Jobs, said net income rose to $ 27.4 million ( U. S.), or 22 cents a share, about double the company’s August forecast of 8 cents to 12 cents. Finding Nemo sales exceeded forecasts, alleviating some concerns over a slowdown in digital video disc revenue growth.

“ The DVD business continues to be a very lucrative business for them,” Portland, Ore.- based Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steven Lidberg said Tuesday.

Shares of Emeryville, Calif.based Pixar rose $ 5.82, or 11.45 per cent, to $ 56.71 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Earlier they rose as high as $ 57.66.

Pixar’s sales rose 3 per cent to $45.8 million. Third-quarter profit exceeded the 11 cents per share estimate of Merrill Lynch’s Jessica Reif Cohen, the top- ranked media analyst by Institutional Investor magazine. Eleven cents was also the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, which didn’t disclose the parameters for the estimates in its average.

Pixar said yesterday that fourth- quarter profit will be 13 cents to 17 cents a share. That compares with 15 cents a share, the average estimate of 17 analysts polled by Thomson. Results this quarter will be helped by the sale of Finding Nemo to television networks.