ABC Season Off To Good Start For Disney

Goldman Sachs had a note out on Monday indicating that the fall season at the Walt Disney (DIS) owned ABC Network is off to a good start. Ratings for key returning shows including Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy were all up over last year’s season opening shows with Lost actually setting an all-time high […]

Disney Earnings Fail To Provide Desired Catalyst For Shares

Disney (DIS) shares fell 3% on Wednesday in reaction to the company’s 3Q05 earnings report. The quarter was decent but I found the 3Q results disappointing as I was expecting an unequivocally strong report to act as a catalyst for the shares. However, I did not find the results to a major miss and was […]

Will Slowing Growth in DVD Sales Hurt Disney and Lions Gate?

Below expectation sales of DVDs of The Incredibles coming on the heels of a much larger shortfall for Shrek 2 have accelerated already brewing concerns about DVDs as a growth engine for movie studios. This has ramifications for Disney (DIS) and Lions Gate Entertainment, (LGF). Disney (DIS) has benefited greatly from sales of DVDs from […]

Disney Selling Radio?

Following comments on the last quarterly conference from Bob Iger, speculation has increased that Disney (DIS) may be looking to sell its radio stations and the ABC Radio Network. Recent articles in trade magazines and The Wall Street Journal leave the impression that the division is being shopped, or at least it is being made […]

ABC Concludes Successful Upfront: Positive for Disney

The annual upfront television advertising market moved close to conclusion last week for the broadcast television networks. ABC, CBS, and FOX all announced their sales. Only NBC, which is in the weakest position due to a 15% decline in ratings last TV season, has yet to wrap up its sales. The upfront market is when […]

Disney Story Intact Following Strong Quarterly Earnings

Disney (DIS) reported strong quarterly earnings earlier this month and the follow-up conference call confirmed operating trends remain excellent across the entire company. The shares sold off a bit when the earnings were reported but have since rallied to their highest level since late April as analysts had favorable commentary and raised earnings estimates for […]

Improved Ratings At ABC Help Disney’s TV Stations

Last week, I initiated a position in Walt Disney (DIS) based on the company’s strong operating momentum and identifiable catalysts. Among the several catalysts I mentioned was the upfront market, the launch of Hong Kong Disneyland in the fall, 3Q EPS to be reported on May 11 (better than expected with rising guidance and estimates […]

Upfront Ad Market A Potential Catalyst for Disney

One of the reasons I like Disney (DIS) is that it has strong fundamental operating momentum with identifiable catalysts. One catalyst is the upfront network television advertising market that gets underway this month. The upfront market occurs each spring when the broadcast and cable television networks sell options on much of the advertising time for […]

Disney: New Buy

Disney Investment Thesis: Strong fundamentals with identifiable catalysts make DIS the choice among big-cap entertainment stocks despite its premium valuation compared to its peers. I’ve been very close to taking a long position in Disney (DIS) over the past couple of months. My working thesis has been that fundamental momentum is the strongest at DIS […]