Disney had a fantastic fiscal second quarter. It sees no sign of consumer weakness and expects experiences growth to accelerate. Total sales grew 6.5% year over year. Preliminary costs to support new experiences and higher programming costs led to a 50-basis-point contraction in operating margin.
No peer can match the depth of Disney’s iconic characters, franchises, or content library, which will keep the firm’s streaming services in high demand and give the firm a leg up in creating new movies and television shows.
Bears
Linear television will continue to decline. Even if successful, newer revenue sources like streaming will never equal the profitability Disney once enjoyed.
Disney operates in three global business segments: entertainment, sports, and experiences. Entertainment and experiences both benefit from the firm’s ownership of iconic franchises and characters. Entertainment includes the ABC broadcast network, several cable television networks, and the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services. Within the segment, Disney also engages in movie and television production and distribution, with content licensed to movie theaters, other content providers, or, increasingly, kept in-house for use on Disney’s own streaming platform and television networks. The sports segment houses the ESPN family of TV networks and streaming services. Experiences contains Disney’s theme parks, cruises, and vacation destinations and also engages in merchandise licensing.