Wunderlich Securities Raises PT to $46 on Walt Disney

Wunderlich Securities increases its price target $3 to $46 on Hold-rated Walt Disney DIS following the $200 million John Carter-related write-off. Wunderlich Securities says, "After the close yesterday, Hold-rated Disney (DIS) announced that it is taking a $200mm FQ2 write-off on sci-fi release John Carter and anticipates a $80-$120mm overall FQ2 loss at the studio. Although a $100mm+ write-down was already a foregone conclusion, the 40%+ second weekend decline for what had been better-than-expected overseas performance cemented an epic film writedown. Disney has already adumbrated its new franchise branded/multiple biz quadrant film strategy under Rich Ross, presaged by strong prospects for The Avengers and, to some extent, Disney Pixar's Brave. We are actually slightly raising our target to $46 from $43 off a higher 1400 S&P 500 assumption." DIS closed at $43.44 a share yesterday.