DreamWorks Animation (DWA) was trading lower this afternoon in response to the company's latest earnings report which was released yesterday after the bell. At the time of this writing, the stock was down 2.4% to $27.43. That might sound bad, but it's actually a higher price than the intraday low of $26.71 (for further perspective, consider that the 52-week low for the shares is $26.61).

According to the Associated Press, the cartoon studio made an adjusted 47 cents per share. Oh man, know what the overall estimate was? Try 75 cents per share. Huge disparity. Honestly, I'm shocked the stock didn't drop beyond the 52-week low today based on such performance.

Reportedly, McDonald's (MCD) is recalling 12 million of its collectible Shrek glasses thanks to cadmium. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the voluntary recall early this morning because the painted design contains cadmium.

What a deal, cadmium poisoning and a collector's glass all for a mere $2 ... those marketing geniuses at McDonald's ... what will they think of next?

While searching through the news, I caught an item highlighted by theflyonthewall. It was a piece on the economic science of advertising a feature movie. And it mentioned DreamWorks Animation's (DWA) How to Train Your Dragon. That film hasn't done as well as management probably expected; it certainly didn't do as well as the market expected, judging by the price action of DWA after the flick's first weekend at bat.

According to Reuters, all the studios are trying to deal with the inflationary aspects related to opening a movie. Whether you're a Disney (DIS) or a Time Warner (TWX), it makes no difference; if you want a big debut weekend for a tent-pole production, you're probably going to put a lot of capital to work (and, by definition, at risk).

IMAX (IMAX) issued its Q4 report yesterday. The stock was slightly weak after the market digested the earnings release: it ended the session down 1%. I'm not sure, though, if traders should give up on the stock just yet.

On an adjusted basis, the company behind the big, theatrical 3D format made 20 cents per diluted share. In the previous year's similar quarter, a loss of 22 cents per diluted share was booked. Awesome improvement. As for the analysts, they simply couldn't keep up with the momentum. According to Earnings.com, they were expecting something closer to 6 cents for the income figure.

DreamWorks Animation (DWA) continues to post evidence that its business model of building animated franchises should be a robust driver of solid shareholder value. It isn't without risk, of course; when you're dealing with Hollywood, failure scenarios are a constant threat. For now, though, the company's fourth-quarter results, released Tuesday after the bell, show a studio with future promise.

It's true that the quarter itself didn't show growth. Revenues took a modest dip, and earnings per share dropped 14% to 50 cents. However, estimates indicated a much more pessimistic outlook at 37 cents per share. And for the twelve-month period, growth actually was produced, as net income rose 10% to $1.73 per share.

Goldman Sachs believes that the company should see a lot of prosperity in the next six months. The stock might even rise as high as $45 per share, if the price target is to be believed. The premium attached to 3-D movie tickets is part of the thesis here. As well as something else, something a lot more powerful: the franchise value of Shrek.

DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), whose cartoons compete with similar products from Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), and Sony (NYSE: SNE), issued its Q1 stats after the bell on Tuesday afternoon.

Now, I'm just about 100% certain that I've used this goofy pun before, so let me apologize upfront for dragging it out yet again (you'll soon see that I had no choice): DreamWorks Animation had a quarter that dreams are made of!

DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), the computer-cartoon studio that competes with the animation product of other entities such as Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Sony (NYSE: SNE), posted Q3 results after the close on Tuesday. Revenues saw a modest decrease of almost 6%, coming in at $151.5 million. I am categorizing a 6% decrease as modest in this case because the studio had a Shrek sequel out in the previous year. The drop was expected. Net income was 41 cents per diluted share, a figure which includes a $0.03 tax benefit. Even so, DreamWorks Animation beat expectations. Wall Street was counting on only 32 cents per share.

Operational cash flow isn't faring too badly. It increased 9%, and the company seems to be doing well enough in terms of generating revenues from its portfolio of films. Kung Fu Panda helped to drive the quarter, but it isn't done yet, as the home-video release should affect Q4 in a most positive manner.

Now that the data is out, DreamWorks Animation is really readying itself for its next big test. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the sequel to the hit Madagascar, is waiting in the wings. In fact, the wait is almost over. The film is due November 7, and the company needs to post big numbers on this one.

Here are a few highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) posted a big loss and warned of more to come.
• CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) beat expectations even though its fourth-quarter profit fell.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) 2007 earnings and revenue soared, lifted by Shrek the Third.
• HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) posted solid third-quarter earnings and revenue.
• Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP) beat fourth-quarter expectations and approved a share buyback plan.
• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) raised its first-quarter and full-year guidance on subscriber growth.
• Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT) missed expectations due to rising operating costs.
• Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) 2007 earnings sank, missing analysts' expectations.
• Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) beat fourth-quarter estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) narrowed its loss due to a surge in subscribers.
• Swiss Reinsurance Co. (OTC: SWCEY) quarterly EPS plunged but 2007 decline was less than expected.
• Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) reported strong fourth-quarter and full-year results.

Also, analysts predict that bank losses will be the highest in 20 years. Timothy Sykes recommends investors not become starstruck by superstar companies such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Upcoming results to watch for include Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST), and Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) is one of those fun stocks to own. Who wouldn't be happy pinning their portfolio's fortunes to Shrek and a bee character based on Jerry Seinfeld? Yep, this is a play on Hollywood animation; the question is, how did DreamWorks do for its fourth quarter and fiscal year?

DreamWorks Animation can be very competitive with Disney (NYSE: DIS) and its Pixar brand when it comes to computer cartoons. For that matter, it is competitive with others like Sony (NYSE: SNE), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) -- they've all had computer cartoons in the marketplace. This latest earnings report proves it. Revenues for Q4 increased 42% to $290 million, and earnings came in at $0.98 per diluted share -- this compares to a loss of $0.20 per diluted share in the year-ago period. Revenues for the full year truly were animated -- they rose 94% to $767 million. Earnings for 2007 equaled $2.17 per diluted share. Talk about blowing away the previous year's stat -- 2006 earnings per stub came in at a mere $0.15.

Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount studios had a pretty kickin' year at the multiplex in 2007. According to Boxofficemojo.com, Paramount came out on top in terms of market share at 15.5%. It distributed some great hits -- Transformers, the DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) films Shrek the Third and Bee Movie, Will Ferrel's Blades of Glory comedy, and Eddie Murphy's Norbit. Viacom's movie business seems to be doing better. According to the latest 10Q for the reporting period ending September 30, 2007, operating income for the filmed-entertainment segment was $71.7 million versus a loss of nearly $8 million in the previous year's comparable quarter (the nine-month period still showed a loss). So, Paramount needs to keep the momentum going this year. How will it top the power of last summer's blockbuster Transformers? With a little swashbuckling help from Indiana Jones, of course!

To get things started, the media company sent out a press release alerting fans of fast-paced adventure that the first teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be released on February 14 during ABC's Good Morning America program and in theaters across the globe. For those of us who've been waiting with a will of patience that was oftentimes as excruciating and as taxing as sitting through yet another news item about Britney Spears' latest mental breakdown, this is one heck of a Valentine, although I do hate teaser trailers (they are, after all, such a tease!).

Will the new Indy flick be a big hit this summer? I think it will be, although it isn't an absolute given, since a lot of the younger demos probably find the Raiders aesthetic a bit antiquated these days; plus, there will be stiff competition from Disney's (NYSE: DIS) new Pixar cartoon Wall-E, Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Dark Knight, and Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) Incredible Hulk project. Still, we're talking about George Lucas and Steven Spielberg here, and they still retain a lot of cultural pull with all demographics. Viacom and Paramount will probably be happy with the results from Crystal Skull come the summer , although I think it's safe to assume that Lucas and Spielberg will be taking a large portion of the grosses. Nevertheless, Viacom is in on the action, and I'm sure it wouldn't want it any other way.

Disclosure: I own shares in Disney and Marvel.

McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) released its May sales numbers today and posted a very respectable 8.7% same-store sales growth for the month, which was the largest one-month increase in over three years. The stock has traded up a nice 1.6% on the day to $51, up $0.79, as traders react to the monthly sales growth, which easily beat analyst estimates of 5.4%.

The company stated that a big reason for its strong U.S. sales growth was its promotional tie-in with Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA)'s movie Shrek the Third which helped to lift U.S. same-store sales 7.4% in the month. Another big part of the company's recent success has been the continued strength of its breakfast lineup.

McDonald's has definitely been a great turnaround story over the past couple of years. At the turn of the century things were definitely looking a bit sour for the fast food giant, with share prices stumbling sharply between 2000 and the start of 2003, but since the second half of 2003 the stock has been on fire. How much higher can this Cinderella stock climb? With a current P/E of 17, we could see some more upside for sure, but I wouldn't be all that surprised to see the stock start to level out around $55. That is unless it can find another nice green ogre to kiss it even higher.