Lions Gate 3Q beats Street with 'Twilight' finale

Lions Gate returns to 3rd-qtr profit, beats St. estimates as fans flock to 'Twilight' finale

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Movie and TV studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said Monday that it posted a healthy net income in the final quarter of 2012 as revenue more than doubled due to the hot-selling finale of the "Twilight" series.

Net income for the fiscal third quarter through Dec. 31 came to $37.8 million, or 27 cents per share, reversing a loss of $1.4 million, or a penny per share, in the same period the year before.

That beat the 19 cents per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue jumped 130 percent to $743.6 million from $323 million a year earlier. Analysts were looking for $723 million in revenue.

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" came out in November and has grossed $811 million worldwide, according to industry database IMDb. The home video release is set for March 2.

Lions Gate shares, which rose 61 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $19.74 in the regular session, added 20 cents, or 1 percent, to $19.94 in after-hours trading.

Managers of the Santa Monica, Calif., company will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call early Tuesday morning.