Marvel Shares Rocket to New Highs

The stock hits new 52-week highs on a strong weekend opening of Iron Man and a solid earnings beat.
By Nicholas Yulico ,

Shares of

Marvel Entertainment

(MVL)

surged to new 52-week highs Monday after the company once again beat earnings estimates and reported a very strong opening weekend for its

Iron Man

film.

Marvel's first-quarter earnings beat estimates by 15 cents a share, and the company has now surpassed estimates in nine of its last 10 quarters.

Meanwhile,

Iron Man

proved to be a blockbuster at the box office, grossing $100 million in the U.S. in its first weekend. This is the second-best debut ever for a non-sequel film (second only to Marvel's first

Spider-Man

movie), Marvel said in a release.

Marvel Needs 'Iron Man' to Do Some Heavy Lifting

var config = new Array(); config<BRACKET>"videoId"</BRACKET> = 1535092840; config<BRACKET>"playerTag"</BRACKET> = "TSCM Embedded Video Player"; config<BRACKET>"autoStart"</BRACKET> = false; config<BRACKET>"preloadBackColor"</BRACKET> = "#FFFFFF"; config<BRACKET>"useOverlayMenu"</BRACKET> = "false"; config<BRACKET>"width"</BRACKET> = 265; config<BRACKET>"height"</BRACKET> = 255; config<BRACKET>"playerId"</BRACKET> = 1243645856; createExperience(config, 8);

In morning trading, Marvel shares rose 7.4%, or $2.23, to $32.48.

The strong

Iron Man

opening could create substantial earnings power at Marvel. This is the

first film Marvel is financing on its own

, which allows for significant operating leverage, since much of a film's costs are fixed. (In the past, the company licensed out its characters to movie studios like

Sony

(SNE) - Get Report

with

Spider-Man

, and lost out on much of the upside.)

The strong showing also lays to rest some of Marvel's critics, who said the company's best days were behind it -- since Marvel has already released three

Spider-Man

movies and three

X-Men

films.

Marvel on Monday announced it will release an

Iron Man

sequel in 2010, along with a movie based on its Thor superhero character.

For its latest quarter, which does not yet include much

Iron Man

profits, Marvel said earnings totaled $45 million, or 58 cents a share, beating the 43-cent target that analysts expected, according to Thomson Financial. A year ago, profit totaled $46.8 million, or 54 cents a share, helped by early contributions from

Spider-Man 3

.

Marvel remains a compelling stock to eye, as the very strong

Iron Man

opening adds to an already attractive operating business.

Loading ...