Viacom Inc. (VIA-B) reported skyrocketing fourth-quarter profits based upon the purchase of DreamWorks SKG and huge DVD sales of "Over the Hedge."
From a year earlier net income increased to $480.8 million, equal to 69 cent a share. An increase from last year's $129.5 million, or 17 cents a share. Overall sales increased from $2.72 billion to $3.59 billion.
"Dauman is actually managing the business to take costs out of traditional media and redeploying them in digital,'' said Sanford Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson, "Paramount is headed for a very good year."
Philippe Dauman was installed as CEO when Sumner Redstone fired Tom Freston for moving to slowly into the Internet space and losing out on getting MySpace to News Corp. (NWS). He cut jobs a MTV and put more of Viacom content onto the Internet.
Chief Financial Officer Thomas Dooley projects that the company will grow earning by the "low-double digits" over the next three years. Paramount is set to release 27 movies for the year, six alone in the first quarter.
Profits at their cable division which include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV increased by 4 percent to $2.08 billion with the increase of advertising revenue. Overall profits rose by 6 percent to $809.9 million.
The company again stated that their goal for the year is to reach $500 million in digital sales. For the year Viacom has dropped by 6 percent.
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