Marvel 2005 Fourth Quarter Earnings

The earnings report is up (here is the overview) and as expected, the fourth quarter of 2005 was pretty solid. This despite the fact that toys sales stunk up the joint. Net sales for toys were $12 million versus $21.8 million in fourth quarter 2004 – and then there was a $12.5 million dollar write down for terminating an early contract with, er, themselves. Anyway, the whole thing can probably be blamed on the nasty little warning the Thing Hands received.

The short term affect has been to bump Marvel stock about 8% to high of $17.5o, although things don’t look great for the bulk of 2006 as this article reports. (Hat tip: The Beat.) But 2007? Blue skies, baby.   

A couple of interesting notes from the announcement:

• The Publishing Segment finished with a net of $92.4 million for 2005, up from $86.0 in 2004. That makes at least six consecutive years of increases (2000 is as far back as my records go) and marks a doubling of revenue from the $45.2 million reported in 2000.
• Apparently there’s a Fantastic Four cartoon to debut this year, with Wolverine and Iron Man animated shows in development.
• The rights for Iron Man have reverted back to Marvel and Hulk may soon do the same. That’s a good thing. 
• A Luke Cage movie seems to have dropped off the development radar, but Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack and Shang-Chi are all possibilities for the new Marvel Film segment. We should see something from this group in 2008. (Even money on Captain America.)
• Revised guidance has Marvel raising the diluted EPS (earnings per share), largely as a result of their on-going share repurchase program.