Walt Disney Company Q4 Highlights: 118.1M Disney+ Subs, Lower ARPU, Parks & Resort Segment Up 99%

Media giant The Walt Disney Company DIS reported fourth-quarter financial results after the market close Wednesday. Here are the key highlights for investors to consider.

What Happened: Disney reported fourth-quarter revenue of $18.53 billion, up 26% year-over-year. Revenue came in higher than a Street estimate of $16.26 billion.

The company reported revenue of $13.08 billion, up 9% year-over-year, for its Media and Entertainment Distribution segment.

Parks, Experiences & Products revenue was $5.45 billion, up 99% year-over-year thanks to parks being reopened compared to last year.

Direct-to-consumer revenue of $4.6 billion was up 38% year-over-year, helping to offset lower linear revenue of $6.7 billion, down 4% year-over-year.

Disney ended the quarter with 118.1 million Disney+ subscribers, up from 73.7 million in the prior year’s period and from the 116 million reported in the third quarter. ESPN+ had 17.1 million subscribers, up 66% year-over-year. Hulu subscribers totaled 43.8 million, up 20% year-over-year.

Disney saw its average revenue per user decline again for Disney+ to $4.12, down 9% year-over-year, with a higher number of Hotstar discounted international plans priced in.

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Why It’s Important: The revenue beat could show the company’s parks and resorts business came in ahead of estimates.

“We’ve made great strides in reopening our businesses while taking meaningful and innovative steps in direct-to-consumer and at our parks, particularly with our popular new Disney Genie and Magic Key offerings,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said.

Investors may be less thrilled with the Disney+ subscriber number increasing slightly from the previous quarter and again showing a lower revenue per user figure.

“We continue to manage our DTC business for the long-term and are confident that our high-quality entertainment and expansion into additional markets worldwide will enable us to further grow our streaming platforms globally.”

DIS Price Action: Disney shares were down 2.61% in aftermarket trading at $169.90.