(Corrects number of days of `Cars' DVD sales in 10th paragraph of story published on Nov. 9.)

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co., the second-largest U.S. media company, said fourth-quarter profit doubled on the box-office success of ``Pirates of the Caribbean'' and ``Cars.''

Net income rose to $782 million, or 36 cents a share, from $379 million, or 19 cents, a year ago, Burbank, California-based Disney said today in a statement. Sales climbed 14 percent to $8.78 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates.

The film unit posted profit of $214 million, buoyed by the success of ``Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,'' which earned more than $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger, a former ABC executive, also boasts three of the five top-rated television shows and Monday Night Football on ESPN.

``They beat estimates basically because of the studio,'' said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Michael Nathanson, the top-rated media analyst by Institutional Investor. ``The bulk of the upside came from the hardest line to forecast, which are the films.''

The shares fell 2.4 percent in after-hours trading after Disney executives said on a conference call that capital spending and tax expenses will increase in fiscal 2007.

Shares of Disney fell 80 cents to $32.70 in extended trading, after reaching a five-year high earlier. They rose 48 cents to $33.58 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, and have climbed 40 percent this year.

Profit beat the 34 cent estimate, based on the average in a Thomson Financial survey of 19 analysts. Sales exceeded their estimate of $8.69 billion.

Film Revival

The film division returned to a profit after a loss of $313 million a year earlier. Revenue jumped 33 percent to $2 billion in the period ended Sept. 30. In the year-ago period, Disney had costs to distribute films from the Miramax label it was required to release.

``Dead Man's Chest,'' the second movie in the ``Pirates'' series, cost about $225 million to make and grossed $1.06 billion worldwide since its July 7 debut, according to Burbank- based Box Office Mojo. That makes it the third-biggest movie ever, after 1997's ``Titanic'' and ``Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' in 2003.

Pixar's ``Cars'' is the second-highest grossing film in the domestic U.S. and Canadian market this year. The DVD sold 5 million copies in its first two days of home release and will be the biggest seller this year, Iger said on the conference call with analysts.

Iger, completing his first year as CEO, bought Pixar for $8.06 billion in May. He also decided to cut 650 jobs at the film unit to boost profit. In an interview, he said he will ``look for efficiencies'' in animation, calling Pixar's integration to date with Disney's operation ``seamless.''

The movies' success flowed through to Disney's consumer products unit, which posted a 9 percent rise in revenue to $564 million. Profit was little changed at $139 million because of Disney's investment in video games.

Cable, Broadcast Unit

Iger, 55, delivered an 18 percent jump in profit at the media networks unit that includes ESPN and ABC, and a 28 percent surge at its theme parks.

His decision to move ``Monday Night Football'' to ESPN resulted in record cable ratings, and made up the bulk of the $883 million in profit at media networks. Sales increased 9.6 percent, helped by higher advertising rates at ABC.

Disney is in the final stages of negotiating new contracts to offer its programs on systems owned by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, the two biggest cable operators, Iger said on a conference call. He said Disney will allow the cable operators to offer viewers its movies and television shows on-demand.

The first six weeks of this season, ABC had the highest ratings among the broadcast networks, with ``Grey's Anatomy,'' ``Desperate Housewives'' and ``Lost'' among the top five shows.

Profit at the unit was hurt by costs to introduce Disney- branded mobile phones and a U.S. Federal Communications Commission license-impairment charge.

Theme-park profit rose to $396 million, as sales climbed 8 percent to $2.54 billion. Disney's parks are coming off their 50th Anniversary celebration last year, which attracted record crowds. Theme-park comparisons this fiscal year ``could be difficult,'' Iger said in an interview.

An increase in Disney's tax rate will cut profit by 5 cents a share, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs said on the conference call. The sale of Disney's radio stations to Citadel Broadcasting Corp. will be completed in the first half of calendar 2007, Staggs said. The stations generated 4 cents a share of profit in fiscal 2006, he said.

(For a replay of Disney's conference call dial +1-888-268- 8010 and enter 44210939, or go to http://www.disney.com/investors.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2006 13:31 EST