Well, you can't win 'em all. I certainly found that out with Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) latest quarterly results. The media company delivered the complete opposite of my expectations. Let's go through the numbers.

Revenues for the second quarter increased 21% to almost $3.9 billion. Net income from continuing operations expanded 19% to 64 cents per share. That beat the estimate I was using by three pennies (other sources listed a lower estimate for earnings). No matter how you slice it, Viacom showed Wall Street how it's done.

Now, let me admit how wrong I was. I thought media networks would shine during the quarter and that the film division might not do as well. Operating income at media networks increased 4%, while Paramount and its colleagues increased their segment's profit by almost 300%! You can thank the new Indiana Jones movie, as well as Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) Iron Man and DreamWorks Animation's (NYSE: DWA) Kung Fu Panda, for bringing the crowds into the multiplex and the money into Viacom's coffers.

Continue reading Viacom proves me wrong with results driven by box-office hits

Viacom proves me wrong with results driven by box-office hits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The strike by the Writers Guild of America, which has crippled production of TV show and films, is likely to end this week, according to several media sources. The division between the writers and studios over revenue from internet content appears to have been addressed. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "in discussions between the studios and the Writers Guild, one particular issue was the money a writer makes when a television show is streamed on the Internet with advertising. The writers won a 2% share of a distributor's gross in the third year of the contract."

Now Wall Street can turn to the issue of whether the weakness in big media company shares may begin to abate. Stocks of companies with large TV and film revenue may get a boost from the news. That may only be temporary if a recession claims growth in TV ad dollars and studio ticket and DVD sales.

CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney (NYSE: DIS), and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) have all traded down since Christmas, though several large media companies say that they are not seeing slowdowns in their businesses.

But, advertising cannot escape a share slump, so settling the writers strike may do very little for shareholders this year.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

As writer's strike ends, attention turns to media stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.