Disney Worth Waiting For

Few companies are more directly impacted by the economic shutdown related to the COVID-19 crisis than Disney (DIS).  The company’s theme parks are closed.  Movies theaters are shut denying Disney the ability to launch the massive blockbusters from its Marvel, Pixar, Disney, and Star Wars franchises.  Sports are not being played, crippling viewership and ad […]

Disney DTC Efforts Ahead of Schedule

Disney (DIS) is a difficult stock to value at the moment as the company is “all in” on the roll out of Disney+ and overall transition of its traditional media revenue sources to streaming.  The new streaming services are losing money now and likely will for another few years.  The traditional media businesses including ESPN […]

Disney Core Stable as the DTC Future Begins

Following a disappointing result in the June quarter with unexpected weakness in Disney’s core business segments, September quarter earnings were improved with stabilization or improvement in theme parks and acquired 21st Century Fox film and TV operations.  This led to a relief rally of 3% in DIS shares which had pulled back from $140 to […]

Disney’s Ride to the Future Encounters Turbulence

In last quarter’s review of Disney (DIS), we noted that “Over the next six months, Disney investors have little to worry about.”  We also discussed how we enjoyed the earnings call because it was mostly about operating fundamentals of the company’s core business with less focus on the upcoming Disney+ launch.  At the time, we […]

Disney Transitioning to Direct-to-Consumer Future

Thanks to the 2Q19 earnings report, for a brief stretch, focus on Disney (DIS) turned back to the fundamentals of their current operating businesses.  It turns out the news is pretty good.  Theme parks are performing very well with growth prospects soon to be supported by new attractions in Orlando and Southern California.  The film […]

Disney in Transition

Disney (DIS) reported solid 1Q19 earnings with Theme Parks doing very well, Studio Entertainment struggling as expected against a tough comparison, and Media Networks showing improvement against strong secular headwinds related to cord cutting and on demand viewing.  EPS surprised to the upside although management cautioned that much of the upside was timing related such […]

Disney Steady Ahead of Major 2019/20 Transition

Disney (DIS) reported a strong 4Q18 as it wrapped a good fiscal year financially and an eventful one strategically.  For the year, revenue grew 8%, the best rate of growth since 2015.Opeting income grew 6% but adjusting for losses at recently acquired BAM TECH and ongoing losses at Hulu, growth would have been several percentage […]

Disney: Shift Towards DTC/OTT Comes Into Focus

Disney reported mixed 3Q18 results with theme parks and broadcast TV excelling and cable networks, the film studio, and consumer products lagging.  Revenue and EPS were a little under consensus estimates leading the stock to decline 1-2%.  The shares have been quite strong since March, reaching their highest level since May 2017.  This may have […]

Super Hero Fight at Disney as Films and Parks Battle Networks

Disney (DIS) shares remain at a very challenging juncture at the company’s spends heavily on its primary strategic priority, shifting its media networks business to a direct to consumer model.  A key part of this strategy is the acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets. In DIS’s latest earnings report, the company indicated […]

Parks and Resorts Strong at Disney

Disney (DIS) reported mixed results with the headline EPS number getting a big boost from a tax rate well below estimates.  Parks and Resorts was the positive standout with 13% revenue growth accompanied by operating leverage that boosted operating income growth to 21%.  The rest of the company’s divisions all reported flat to lower year […]