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NY Times

How Media Giant Disney Defied Expectations

May 5, 2015  •  Post A Comment

The Walt Disney Co. had a surprise for analysts in today’s quarterly earnings report. The New York Times reports: “Despite expected declines in movie and cable network income, the Walt Disney Company on Tuesday reported a 10 percent increase in quarterly profit, beating Wall Street’s expectations by a wide margin.”

For the company’s fiscal second quarter, Disney reported $2.11 billion in net income, up from $1.92 billion a year ago.

Analysts were predicting net income would equal $1.10 per share, but it came in at $1.23 a share, up from $1.08.

Total revenue for the quarter was $12.46 billion, up from $11.65 billion.

The Times notes: “The better-than-expected results reflect the size of Disney’s entertainment empire. If one or two divisions encounter momentary difficulties, other units are typically strong enough to pick up the slack. Lately, difficulties of any kind have been few and far between, however, with Disney shares trading at record levels.”

While operating income at the Disney cable networks declined 9%, to $1.8 billion, and movie profit slipped 10% to $427 million, “operating income at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts increased 24 percent, to $566 million, in part because of higher ticket prices for theme parks and cruise lines,” The Times reports.

Operating income in the broadcasting segment surged 90% to $302 million, driven in part by the sale of “Daredevil” to Netflix.

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One Comment

  1. Glad Disney’s bottom line got a boost from the price-gouge at the Disneyland ticket window. That way they won’t miss the revenue from our family (and many of our friends), who can no longer afford to spend the occasional day at the park…

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