Walt Disney Co. reported fiscal second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its outlook for the full year, citing strong performances from theme parks and streaming TV. The shares jumped 5.9 per cent in premarket trading after the report.
Full-year fiscal 2025 earnings, excluding certain items, will rise 16 per cent to US$5.75 a share, Disney said Wednesday in a statement, about double its previous forecast for growth. Analysts were looking for $5.44 a share.
A number of major companies have pulled their 2025 guidance amid the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported goods. But Disney is benefiting from faster-than-expected growth at its namesake parks and streaming business, and pointed to that strong performance to boost its guidance.
“We remain optimistic about the direction of the company and our outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in the statement.
Excluding some items, fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 20 per cent to $1.45 a share, beating the $1.20 a share average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue in the period ended March 29 also came in higher than expectations, increasing seven per cent to $23.6 billion.
For the current third quarter, management said it expects to record a modest sequential increase in Disney+ subscribers.
Disney’s experiences division, which includes its resorts and cruises, was buoyed by more visitors to parks in California and Florida, holiday package sales and a higher number of bookings resulting from the launch of the Disney Treasure ship in December.
The entertainment division was boosted by recent price increases across the company’s streaming services, including Disney+ and Hulu, which helped the direct-to-consumer segment record its fourth-straight quarter of profit.
The movie division benefited from Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King, which were released late last year and continued to generate sales last quarter. They helped counter Captain America: Brave New World and Snow White, which were released in February and March to weak box-office results.
Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston has said that Disney will keep improving the profitability of its online video platforms and expects the company to make $1 billion from streaming this year.
Profit from sports programming, including ESPN, fell because of higher programming and production costs, but beat Wall Street estimates. ESPN is readying a major new streaming service due to debut in the fall, and the company predicts operating income for the year will grow 18 per cent.
Disney has repurchased $1.8 billion of stock so far this fiscal year.
While Disney expects an impact from the opening of Comcast Corp.’s Epic Universe theme park in Orlando in this month, summer bookings at Walt Disney World haven’t declined, Johnston said in February.
Thomas Buckley, Bloomberg News
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