Disney stock jumped significantly after the presentation of the figures for the first quarter of the 2023/2024 fiscal year (until the end of September). The stock is up about 8 percent and has gained around 18 percent since the beginning of the year. This puts Disney’s stock at its highest level in many months (as of February 8, 2024, around 11 a.m.).

Investors were impressed by the fresh numbers from the Walt Disney Company. Business is still running smoothly for cruises and theme parks. Important from an investor’s perspective: The streaming business is also looking better – Disney wants to finally turn a profit within the next quarters.

Disney with strong quarterly earnings While Disney’s revenue in the opening quarter stood at around $23.5 billion, roughly the same as the previous year, profits were significantly higher: from just under 1.3 billion euros in the previous year’s quarter, it has now climbed to 1.9 billion euros – cost-cutting measures have contributed about 500 million euros to this.

Investors have been closely watching the streaming division with Disney+ and the sports channel ESPN+ for some time now. While the company recorded a loss of 216 million euros in the first quarter, it is clearly moving towards profitability compared to the quarterly loss of around 1 billion euros in the same period last year.

Streaming division soon in the black? Disney has invested a lot of money in recent years to become a real alternative to Netflix and Co. in the streaming business. The company now wants to finally turn a profit with Disney+ and ESPN+. One step towards this goal: In the summer, Disney will also take action against password sharing.

The role model for this was industry leader Netflix, which has already successfully fought against the sharing of accounts. This has increased the number of subscribers for Netflix – a trend that Disney also hopes to see with the implementation of its plans this summer.

Disney stock: Potential is there The Disney stock has not performed well in recent years. The high losses in the streaming division, among other things, have weighed on the stock. If Disney+ really starts turning a profit soon, it could also give a boost to the Disney stock.

But even outside of streaming, there is potential for Walt Disney. The core businesses of theme parks and cruises are thriving. And with gaming, the next big boom business at Disney is already on the horizon – as a first step, the company is now investing 1.5 billion euros in Fortnite developer Epic Games.

Source: https://aktienscreener.com/