UPDATE: Viacom Says Nielsen Snafu Led To Decline In Nickelodeon Toy Ads; Forecasts Strong 2012 Despite Economic Headwinds

The Sumner Redstone-controlledentertainment giant says it will buy back $10B worth of its shares, up from $4B — which is sure to make investors happy. But they’ll also like the fiscal 4Q results: Viacom’s continuing operations had net earnings of $583M, up 19% from the period last year, on revenues of $4.05B, up 21.7%. Analysts thought revenues would come in at $3.75B. And earnings from continuing operations, at $1.06 a share, exceeded forecasts for $1.03. Paramount’s filmed entertainment unit was the star with revenues up 46% to $1.8B. The company says that was mostly due to the strong box office sales for Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. The media networks — the largest operation with cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon — were up 8% to $2.3B. Ad sales were up 7% while rate increases boosted affiliate fees 11%to $883M. “Our financial position is as strong as it has ever been, which allows us to continue to invest in the growth of our businesses, including new branded television networks in the U.S. and internationally, and Paramount’s recently launched animation label,” CEO Philippe Dauman says. The studio is “benefiting from a disciplined franchise-centric approach that has produced an unprecedented number of hits,” headds, while the new stock repurchase effort shows “our confidence in Viacom’s long-term outlook.” The company spent $2.5B in the latest fiscal year buying back 19.7M shares, and has $7.2B left in its newly raised $10B authorization. Redstone says that the financial results illustrate “the value of our focused strategy and strong leadership.”