Apple At A 'Fork In The Road' As Disney+ Reports 50M Subscribers

In the last two months, Walt Disney Co DIS has nearly doubled its paid Disney+ subscriptions. The service’s recent surge beyond the 50 million mark was “jaw dropping” to one analyst — and it turns up the heat for rival streamers like Apple Inc. AAPL.

The Rating

Wedbush analysts Daniel Ives and Strecker Backe maintained an Outperform rating on Apple with a $335 price target.

The Thesis

Apple has an installed base of nearly 925 million iPhones. With that advantage, Wedbush sees an opportunity to secure 100 million streaming subscribers for Apple TV+ before 2024. The company is currently building viewership through promotional one-year subscriptions with device purchases and passive benefits of the pandemic-related stay-at-home orders.

Meanwhile, Disney is drawing in masses organically.

“Disney on the other hand has a whole other strategy as the company has a content library that is unmatched with a global consumer base that will be tapped through its theme parks and other vast distribution tentacles,” Backe and Ives wrote. “We believe the House of Mouse will further flex its content muscles on streaming over the next few years.”

See Also: Netflix, YouTube, Disney+: Which Video Streaming Platform Do Teens Watch The Most?

Disney has competitive franchises like Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and its own classics. It’s also inherited greats from 21st Century Fox and National Geographic. Wedbush suspects Apple has invested $6 billion in original content and could pursue M&A of production companies to become more competitive.

“This is a fork in the road situation for Apple's streaming endeavors as with Disney firing on all cylinders, Peacock and HBO launching around the corner with impressive content, now is the time for Cook & Co. to attract subscribers although lack of content (no new projects can roll out in light of the pandemic) remains the issue to keep them as a paying sub, with content/studios acquisitions potentially now in the cards for Apple to fill this gaping hole,” Backe and Ives wrote.

Price Action

At time of publication, Apple shares traded up 1.2% around $269.25. Disney traded up 4.5% at $105.67 per share.