(Removes reference to ESPN+ in paragraph 14)
By Daybreak Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine
(Reuters) – Walt Disney sharply outperformed Wall Road’s quarterly earnings estimates on Wednesday, with outcomes buoyed by the sturdy vacation field workplace efficiency of animated sequel “Moana 2” and better earnings on the firm’s streaming enterprise.
The power in leisure helped offset a decline at Disney’s home theme parks, which had been impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida. The parks-led Experiences group additionally incurred about $75 million in bills related to the December launch of the Disney Treasure cruise ship.
Disney reported a 44% bounce in adjusted per-share earnings of $1.76 for the October-December quarter, exceeding the $1.45 per-share earnings consensus estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by LSEG.
Income for the quarter rose 5% to $24.69 billion, barely forward of analysts’ projections of $24.62 billion. Working earnings rose 31% from a yr earlier to $5.1 billion.
Shares of the corporate rose 1.5% in premarket buying and selling.
“General, this quarter proved to be a robust begin to the fiscal yr, and we stay assured in our technique for continued development,” Disney CEO Bob Iger stated in a press release.
Disney forecast “excessive single digit” adjusted earnings-per-share development in fiscal 2025 in contrast with the prior yr and a rise of roughly $875 million in working earnings on the streaming leisure unit.
The corporate stated it will incur $50 million in prices related to exiting its Venu Sports activities three way partnership with Warner Bros Discovery and Fox. The media corporations deserted their plans for a sports activities streaming service in January, after it bumped into substantial authorized opposition.
Working earnings at Disney’s Leisure unit, which incorporates movie, tv and streaming, elevated to $1.7 billion within the quarter, practically double the outcomes from a yr earlier, thanks partly to the sturdy efficiency of “Moana 2.”
The animated sequel topped $1 billion in field workplace proceeds over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend in January, turning into the fourth Walt Disney Animation movie to achieve that monetary milestone.
“Disney has turned within the fairytale efficiency traders had been hoping for … It reveals that Disney continues to be a strong power to be reckoned with in relation to delivering blockbuster hits,” stated Susannah Streeter, head of cash and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Disney’s conventional tv enterprise continued to erode. Working earnings at so-called linear networks fell 11% to $1.1 billion.
