Pixar Earnings Soar on 'Finding Nemo' DVD

By Peter Henderson

"We think the Pixar brand is now the most powerful and trusted brand in animation," Jobs said on a conference call.

"Some people are disquieted by change, but we feel very, very strongly that Pixar is on the right track and the best days are yet to come," he said.

Fourth-quarter net income rose to $83.9 million, or $1.44 a share, from $17 million or 31 cents, in the year-ago quarter, topping the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.27 per share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.

Revenue jumped to $164.8 million from $39.4 million, driven by video sales and foreign box office for computer-animated hit "Nemo," and Pixar shares rose 1.5 percent in after-hours trade after swinging widely.

San Francisco Bay area Pixar forecast first-quarter earnings of about 30 cents per share, far below the Wall Street consensus of 57 cents, but analysts said Pixar had an extremely conservative track record of projections and that executives gave no signs of trouble on the earnings horizon.

Analysts generally view Pixar as a blue chip creative franchise but differ on what is a fair valuation for shares.

"Here is a company that makes one film a year that costs around $100 million to make and generates approximately $500 million in pretax income. Does it get much simpler than that?" asked Harris Nesbitt Gerard analyst Jeff Logsdon, who rates the shares outperform.