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Walt Disney shares surged more than 9 per cent after the box office success of Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine and a solid profit in its streaming businesses helped raise the entertainment company’s earnings by 39 per cent from a year earlier.
The film’s performance, combined with Pixar’s record-setting Inside Out 2, has eased investor concerns that Disney was losing its magic touch at the box office. Bob Iger, Disney chief executive, hailed it as “one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio”.
The films’ strong showing, combined with $253mn operating profit at the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services, offset sharp declines in its traditional television business. Including the ESPN+ sports service, total streaming operating income was $321mn, reversing a loss of $387mn a year ago.
Investors welcomed the fourth-quarter results and pushed Disney shares more than 9 per cent higher in pre-market trading on Thursday.
Disney is also expecting a strong holiday season at the box office with the release of Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King. “Creativity is very much back on track for Disney, which is obviously the biggest value creator for us because of the way it plays through the rest of the company,” said Hugh Johnston, Disney’s chief financial officer.
However, investors have grown concerned about another area of the business that had been Disney’s strongest performer over the past two years: the “experiences” division that includes the company’s theme parks and cruise ships.
Disney’s theme parks roared back from the pandemic but faced an early summer slowdown as American visitors reined in spending.
The US business rebounded in the three months to September 28 as guests spent more money in theme parks and on cruise ships, but that was offset by weakness at Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disney. The division had record revenues and operating income for the full year and Disney expects attendance to rise in 2025.
Disney is investing heavily in its experiences business, with plans to pump $60bn into its theme parks and cruise lines over the next decade. The company expects the division to generate operating income growth of 6 to 8 per cent in the coming year, and “high single-digit growth” in 2026 — thanks to the launch of two new cruise ships that year.
Disney made $460mn in net income during the fiscal fourth quarter, up from $264mn a year ago, while adjusted earnings of $1.14 a share beat Wall Street estimates of $1.09. Revenue rose 6 per cent to $22.6bn.
Iger returned to Disney after a brief retirement two years ago and launched a sweeping cost-cutting and restructuring plan. Since then, the shares have risen but are underperforming the broader stock market.
The company plans to repurchase $3bn in shares in 2025, and said its dividend would “grow in line with earnings”.
