Disney offers robust multi-year forecast, stoking stock

By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Walt Disney shares surged Thursday after the entertainment giant reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street’s estimates and offered robust guidance for the coming years.

The company projected adjusted earnings-per-share percentage growth in the high single digits in fiscal 2025, even with capital expenditures of roughly $8 billion. It also said it expects to buy back $3 billion worth of stock. Disney forecast double-digit per-share earnings growth in fiscal 2026 and 2027 as its investments in theme parks, its cruise ship fleet and streaming pay dividends.

“We do feel like it’s appropriate for us to give you a multi-year look, because these investments are obviously multi-year in nature,” CFO Hugh Johnston told investors. “In terms of our confidence in delivering, obviously, we’ve got confidence in it. Otherwise we wouldn’t do it.”

Disney’s stock jumped 10.2% to $113.17, its highest share price in six months.

Although Disney doesn’t typically issue long-term guidance, this earnings report was marked by an optimistic outlook through 2027,” said Emarketer vice president Paul Verna. “Investors cheered the results.”

The entertainment giant’s recent success at movie theaters helped offset a decline in operating income at the company’s Experiences and Sports divisions. Lower attendance at international locations dragged on theme parks results, and higher programming and production costs hurt ESPN.

Disney reported adjusted per-share earnings of $1.14 for its fiscal fourth quarter that ended in September. That compares with consensus estimates of $1.10 per share, according to analysts polled by LSEG.

Revenue reached $22.6 billion, slightly ahead of Wall Street forecasts of $22.45 billion. Operating income rose 23% from a year earlier to nearly $3.7 billion.

WELL POSITIONED FOR GROWTH

Chief Executive Bob Iger, who returned to the company from retirement in November 2022, undertook aggressive cost-cutting and worked to revitalize the company’s film and TV units after a period of misfires.

“We’ve emerged from a period of considerable challenges and disruption,” Iger told investors. “We’re well positioned for growth.”

Disney last month said it would name a new chief in early 2026. The new boss would replace Iger, who returned to the company to take the top job after the board fired his handpicked CEO.

As peers like Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav predicted the incoming Trump Administration would usher in a wave of media consolidation, Iger said Disney doesn’t need to do more deals to bolster its portfolio. Its 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox brought a collection of assets that fueled Disney’s record Emmy Award haul, the successful “Avatar” film franchise and control of the Hulu streaming service.

“We, in many respects, have already consolidated,” Iger said. “We don’t really need more assets right now, either from a distribution or a content perspective, to thrive in basically a disruptive media world.”

Johnston said Disney similarly considered, then rejected, divesting its television assets, as Comcast said it is currently mulling.

“As I went through the math … it was pretty clear to me that there wasn’t an evaluating opportunity for Disney,” said Johnston. “I can’t speak to other companies.”

Operating income at the Entertainment unit, which includes film, television and streaming, more than doubled to $1.1 billion in the quarter, reflecting the return of Hulu’s Emmy-nominated comedy “Only Murders in the Building” and summer movies including “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the first R-rated Marvel film, and “Alien: Romulus.”

The “Deadpool” movie brought in $1.3 billion at global box offices. Together with Disney’s other summer blockbuster, “Inside Out 2,” the movie sequels also stoked viewing on the Disney+ service, as consumers watched earlier installments of the movies, and fueled licensing and other revenue.

Disney’s flagship streaming video service, Disney+, boasted more than 122.7 million subscribers outside of India, a gain of 4.4 million from the prior quarter. The company intensified efforts to crack down on password sharing in September.

Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ produced operating profit of $321 million for the quarter, marking the streaming services’ second straight quarter of profitability.

Streaming gains helped offset a 38% decline in operating income for Disney’s traditional television networks.

Iger said Disney would add an ESPN tile to its Disney+ streaming service on Dec. 4, as it prepares for the flagship sports network to begin streaming next fall. It will offer live sports and commentary, as well as new features, such as sports betting. In the future, it might even harness artificial intelligence to tailor the viewing experience, offering a personalized version of SportsCenter, he said.

“It will be designed to serve the consumer in the most compelling way ESPN has ever served the consumer,” Iger said.

At Disney’s Experiences segment that includes parks and consumer products, operating income dropped 6% to $1.66 billion.

The company reported a 32% drop in operating income at international parks, reflecting the costs to build new attractions and competition in Paris from the Olympics.

At the Sports unit, which includes the ESPN network and Star India business, operating income fell 5% to $929 million. ESPN experienced higher programming and production costs for college football broadcasts. For the full year, domestic operating income is 6% above 2023, with performance lifted by double-digit ad revenue growth.

In addition to the fiscal 2025 projection, Disney said it expected double-digit adjusted EPS growth in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

“If you add it all up, our strategies are working, working very well, and we’ve got good visibility on where those strategies are likely to lead us,” Johnston said in an interview.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; additional reporting by Harshita Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul, Anil D’Silva and Nick Zieminski)