Disney Shares Rise After Big Q4 Earnings, Sales Beat

Walt Disney Co. DIS has made strides to create expanded Disney-branded streaming platforms following the implementation of 21st Century Fox Inc. FOXA assets and the launch of the ESPN+ streaming service.

Disney Thursday afternoon reported earnings of $1.48 per share, beating the $1.33 estimate by 11.28 percent. Sales came in at $14.31 billion against a $13.72-billion estimate — an 11.98 percent increase since Q4 2017.

Q4 Highlights

• Broadcasting revenues increased 21 percent to $1.8 billion.
• Operating income increased $150 million to $379 million, due to higher program sales and affiliate revenue growth.
• Media Networks revenues rose 9 percent to $6.0 billion.
• Results at ESPN were comparable to the prior-year quarter as affiliate revenue growth was offset by higher programming and production costs, driven by contractual rate increases, and lower advertising 4 revenue.

“We’re very pleased with our financial performance in fiscal 2018, delivering record revenue, net income and earnings per share,” said Robert Iger, chairman and CEO. “We remain focused on the successful completion and integration of our 21st Century Fox acquisition and the further development of our direct-to-consumer business, including the highly anticipated launch of our Disney-branded streaming service late next year.”

Disney shares closed at $116. Following strong results, shares traded up more than 2 percent after hours to $118.43.

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