Sotheby's Has a Good 4th Quarter 2009

Bloomberg is reporting that Sotheby's is reporting positive earnings growth in the fourth quarter of 2009.  After a difficult 18 months, including staff and expenses cuts, the auction house seems to be regaining its footing.  Sales of art over the past 6-8 months have also been stronger.

Bloomberg states net income was  $76.3 million compared to a loss of over $9 million in the 4th quarter of 2008. Revenue increased by 31% to $218.3 million. Expenses declined 28 percent in the quarter, to $119.4 million. The only bad news is the full year end totals still represented a net loss of $6.5 compared to a profit of $26.5 million in 2008.

That being said, things certainly appear to be heading in the right direction, and some of the early sales of 2010 have been strong and successful. I just printed out the SEC 10K filing and will review for a better review of 2009 and what expectations are for 2010 and post anything of interest I find.  It is over 100 pages, so there should be some interesting information.  It just posted today, so the news is very timely.