
While some analysts and commentators had been skeptical on whether Disney (DIS) and other media companies would perform well for the quarter, Disney proved to be strong as it outperformed analyst expectations by quite a lot.
Disney topped the projected 55 cents per share of analysts by three cents, bringing in 58 cents a per share for the quarter. Overall revenue increased by 7 percent to finish at $9.045 billion.
The Mouse's quarterly net profits increased by 4.7 percent, the majority coming from increased business at theme parks worldwide, and healthy sales of their television programs.
For the parks and resorts division, revenue increased by 6 percent to reach $2.9 billion, while operating income grew by about 13 percent to finish at $621 million. Both attendance and spending was higher for the quarter; a sign of a healthy unit.
The Media Networks group, which represents broacast and cable TV grew by 6 percent for the quarter, reaching $3.8 billion with an operating income up by 23 percent to $1.4 billion.
Within the unit, cable grew by grew by $88 million to end ad $1.1 billion, most of that attributed to its domestic cable TV netoworks and ESPN. Growth in subscribers for the sports network continues strong.
For the broadcasting side of Media Networks group, they finished at $295 million, and increase from last quarters' $165 million. Most of that came from revenue generated from ABC Studios programs.
Disney's consumer product division performed strongly as well, rising 23 percent to $549 million, with operating income ending at $118 million, an increase of 12 percent..
The only underperforming unit for Disney was the movie studio, as operating income dropped strongly by 20 percent, to finish at $192 million, even though revenues grew by 4 percent. Most of that was related to decreasing DVD sales.
While some have noted the lower-than-expected domestic results of "Ratatouille," its success really can't be determined at this time as it's just starting to move into international markets. It has garnered $181 million domestically as of this writing.
The other thing we must consider with Disney, is when they release family-related films, historically they are more of a consistent earner over a long period of time, rather than the quick box office hit that many blockbusters perform like. So they will skew quarterly results differently than those that make the vast majority of their money in about a month.
Overall this is a great quarter for the company. You can hear an audio of the conference call here.








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