Disney (DIS) reported quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday that showed a beat on both the top and bottom lines as demand for the company’s theme parks soared during the holiday period.
As expected, Disney+ subscribers showed a slight dip in the first quarter due to the absence of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament on its Indian brand, Disney+ Hotstar.
Streaming losses narrowed to $1.1 billion in Q1 against a loss of $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter — ahead of the company’s previous guidance as Disney’s ad-supported tier and recent price increases helped pare losses.
Wednesday’s upbeat results served as the company’s first earnings report since CEO Bob Iger’s return to the company in November. Shares of Disney were up as much as 3% following this news.
Here are Disney’s first quarter results compared to Wall Street’s consensus estimates, as compiled by Bloomberg:
Revenue: $23.51 billion versus $23.4 billion expected
Adj. earnings per share (EPS): $0.99 versus $0.75 expected
Disney+ total subscribers: 161.8 million versus 164 million expected
Parks, experience, and consumer products revenue: $8.74 billion versus $8.08 billion expected
“After a solid first quarter, we are embarking on a significant transformation, one that will maximize the potential of our world-class creative teams and our unparalleled brands and franchises,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in the earnings release.
“We believe the work we are doing to reshape our company around creativity, while reducing expenses, will lead to sustained growth and profitability for our streaming business, better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges, and deliver value for our shareholders.”
On the parks side of the business, operating income soared to $3.05 billion. The upswing comes after the theme parks division missed expectations in Q4 as recession fears pressured the consumer.
Last month, Disney announced long-awaited updates to its parks reservation system and annual passholder program following intense backlash from consumers over lengthy wait times and sky-high ticket prices.
Disney faced a rough 2022 as shares slid about 45%, marking the worst annual stock performance for the company since 1974. The stock is up more than 20% year-to-date heading into earnings.
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Media Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at [email protected]
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Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-stock-rises-after-streaming-losses-narrow-in-first-quarter-211256179.html