Macrovision's Reel Good Quarter
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
biz.yahoo.com
Lights! Camera! Satisfaction! Macrovision (Nasdaq: MVSN - news), the video and DVD copy protection
specialist with dreams of anti-piracy stardom, has reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.
Revenues rose 43% to $23 million year-over-year, while pro forma profits soared 44% to $9.1 million --
or $0.18 a share. The marquee-worthy showing came in two cents ahead of analyst estimates.
Named to the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 in
December, Macrovision has been the beneficiary of a
copyright-conscious Hollywood. While traditional
counterfeiters selling bootleg videos have been a
long-standing enemy, the movie industry has good reason to
be even more concerned nowadays. With Napster convincing
music fans that sharing song files is an acceptable copyright
violation, video file swapping appears to be the next wave in
cyberspace file swapping.
For now, Macrovision's outperformance is rightfully linked to
the DVD market's surging demand. That's a segment that will
probably continue to strengthen over time. Last week, major
component makers like Sony (NYSE: SNE - news) and
Pioneer teamed up with Macrovision to help establish a copy protection standard. Macrovision will cover
the licensing, certification, marketing, and technical support.
But Macrovision wants to play more than just a bit part with your VCR. The company has been
successful in licensing its copyright protection in everything from CD-R's to pay-per-view systems. As
long as the consumer is worth distrusting, Macrovision will have no shortage of work. |
