Disney Q4 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Miss, Earnings Beat, Disney+ Adds 7 Million Core Subscribers And More

Media giant The Walt Disney Company DIS reported fourth-quarter financial results after the market close Wednesday.

Here are the key highlights.

Disney’s Q4 Report: Disney reported fourth-quarter revenue of $21.24 billion, which was up 5% year-over-year. The revenue missed a Street consensus estimate of $21.33 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Earnings per share of 82 cents beat a Street consensus estimate of 70 cents per share.

The company's revenue was broken down in the following categories:

Entertainment: $9.52 billion, +2% year-over-year

Sports: $3.91 billion, flat

Experiences: $8.16 billion, +13%

Operating income came in as follows:

Entertainment: $236 million

Sports: $981 million

Experiences: $1.76 billion

Each of the three reporting segments saw an increase in operating income, with a total increase of 86% year-over-year to $2.98 billion.

The Entertainment segment saw Linear revenue of $2.63 billion, which was down 9% year-over-year. Direct-to-consumer revenue of $5.04 billion was up 12%. Content sales and licensing was down 3% year-over-year to $1.86 billion.

The operating loss for DTC improved from a loss of $1.41 billion a year ago to a loss of $420 million for the fourth quarter.

"Our results this quarter reflect the significant progress we've made over the past year," Disney CEO Bob Iger said. "While we still have work to do, these efforts have allowed us to move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again."

Disney’s four key building opportunities going forward are profitability in streaming, building ESPN into the "preeminent digital sports platform," improving film studios and turbocharging growth for the parks and experiences segment, Iger said.

"We have already made considerable advancements in these four areas and will continue to move forward with a sense of purpose and urgency, and I'm bullish about the opportunities we have before us to create lasting growth and increase shareholder value."

Disney DTC, Streaming Update: Disney shared updated metrics for its streaming businesses at the end of the fourth quarter.

Disney+ Domestic: 46.5 million subscribers, +1% quarter-over-quarter

Disney+ International excluding Disney+Hotstar: 66.1 million, +11%

Disney+ Core: 112.6 million, +7%

Disney+ Hotstar: 37.6 million, -7%

Hulu SVOD Only: 43.9 million, flat

Hulu Live TV + SVOD: 4.6 million, +7%

Total Hulu: 48.5 million, flat

The company said it added around 7 million core subscribers for Disney+ in the fourth quarter, helped by the addition of content like "Elemental," "The Little Mermaid," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "Ahsoka."

ESPN, which is now part of the sports segment, reported 26 million ESPN+ paid subscribers, which was up 3% quarter-over-quarter.

"We continue to expect that our combined streaming businesses will reach profitability in Q4 of FY24, although progress may not look linear from quarter to quarter," the company said.

DIS Price Action: Disney shares are up 2% to $86.27 in after-hours trading Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $78.73 to $118.18.