The Walt Disney Co. beat Wall Street estimates on earnings and revenue in the fiscal second quarter.
The Burbank entertainment and media giant on Tuesday reported an adjusted net income of $2.5 billion ($1.21 per share) for the quarter ending March 30, compared with adjusted net income of $1.9 billion (93 cents) in the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased by 1% from the second quarter of the prior year to $22.1 billion.
Analysts on average expected earnings of $1.02 per share on revenue of $20.6 billion, according to LSEG.
Chief Executive Bob Iger said the quarterly results reflect the progress the company has made over the past year and that turnaround and growth initiatives set in motion last year have continued to yield positive results.
“Our results were driven in large part by our experiences segment as well as our streaming business,” Iger said in a statement. “Importantly, entertainment streaming was profitable for the quarter, and we remain on track to achieve profitability in our combined streaming businesses in Q4.”
In the streaming, or direct-to-consumer, business there was an increase of 6.3 million Disney+ Core subscribers in the second quarter versus the first quarter.
The direct-to-consumer revenue increased in the second quarter by 13% to $5.6 billion from the $5 billion in the same period of the previous year, while the operating loss was trimmed by more than 100% to $47 million versus the loss of $587 million of the prior year’s second quarter.
The company attributed the improvement in operating costs to higher revenue, increases in retail pricing, subscriber growth at Disney+ Core and Hulu, increases in marketing and lower distribution costs.
In the domestic parks and experiences business, revenue was about $6 billion for the second quarter compared to $5.6 billion in the previous year. There was $1.6 billion of domestic operating income in the second quarter.
“The increase in operating income at our domestic parks and experiences was due to higher results at Walt Disney World Resort and Disney Cruise Line, partially offset by lower results at Disneyland Resort,” the company reported.
Disney released its quarterly financials on Tuesday. Shares in Disney closed down $11.08, or about 9.5%, to $105.39 on the New York Stock Exchange, on a day when the Dow Jones closed up a fraction of a percent.
