I heard the following on Bloomberg radio a few days ago.
The CEO of Disney, Robert Iger, was interviewed by Bloomberg radio. Iger openly admitted that the earnings from theme park in Hong Kong was very DISAPPOINTING, that it was the "weakest link" to Disney's earnings. Disney's earnings were helped tremendously by blockbuster movies, "Pirate of the Caribbean 2", and the hit TV show, "Grey's Anatomy".
Don't let propaganda distort reality! The Disney Hong Kong theme park is a disappointment per CEO Robert Iger.
Disney Shares Rise After First-Quarter Profit Doubles (Update2)
By Andy Fixmer
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Walt Disney Co., the second- largest U.S. media company, rose after first-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates on DVD sales of ``Pirates of the Caribbean'' and ``Cars.''
The stock gained as much as 1.7 percent as Deutsche Bank analysts raised their share price target and J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Imran Khan boosted his revenue estimates. Disney yesterday said net income more than doubled and sales jumped 9.8 percent in the period ended Dec. 30.
Studio profit rose fourfold to $604 million on a 29 percent increase in sales. The report followed earnings from News Corp. that also beat estimates, driven by the hit movie ``Borat.'' Shares of Disney, which touched a six-year high of $35.97 on Jan. 19, were poised to extend their gains.
``The results certainly support the share price given the strength of the studio,'' Aryeh Bourkoff, an analyst with UBS Securities LLC, said of Disney's shares. ``The question is: How many more quarters like this do they have left?''
Shares of Disney, also the world's biggest theme-park operator, rose 45 cents to $35.93 at 9:36 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading after earlier reaching $36.09. The stock had gained 33 percent in the past year before today.
Profit excluding a gain on asset sales was 50 cents, beating the 40-cent average estimate in a Bloomberg survey. to $1.7 billion, or 79 cents a share, from a year earlier, while sales jumped 9.8 percent to $9.73 billion, Burbank, California-based Disney said yesterday.
News Corp.
J.P. Morgan's Khan, who is based in New York, said the results ``significantly'' exceeded his estimates, prompting him to increase his revenue predictions for this year to $36.1 billion from $35.5 billion. Deutsche Bank analysts raised their forecast for the stock 2.4 percent to $42.
News Corp., the third-largest media company, said yesterday that second-quarter profit rose 18 percent to $822 million, or 26 cents a share, from $694 million, or 21 cents, excluding a gain from asset sales in the year-ago period. Revenue at the New York- based company jumped 18 percent to $7.84 billion.
Shares of News Corp., also trading at six-year highs, rose 38 cents to $23.72. They had advanced 48 percent in the past year before today.
Time Warner
News Corp. and Disney are benefiting at the expense of larger rival Time Warner Inc. Sales at the New York-based company's film division slumped 15 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said on Jan. 31, as DVD releases including ``Superman Returns'' weren't enough to match DVD sales of ``Harry Potter'' a year earlier.
Overall, Time Warner's profit rose 35 percent, driven by its cable-TV unit. The shares have climbed 19 percent in the past year before today.
The volatility of the studio business makes it hard to predict whether Disney can keep up its streak, said New York- based Bourkoff, who has a ``neutral'' rating on Disney shares and doesn't own them.
``The company is going to need support from its other segments going forward,'' Bourkoff said.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger said in an interview that this ``should be a good year for the studio overall,'' with the release of the third film in the ``Pirates'' series, ``Meet the Robinsons'' and ``Ratatouille'' from Pixar.
ESPN, ABC
Disney's first-quarter profit included a gain of $1.1 billion from the sale of interests in E! Entertainment Television and US Weekly, as well as costs of $48 million for equity-based compensation. Sales beat the $9.53 billion average estimate.
In the year-earlier period, Disney posted net income of $734 million, or 37 cents a share.
Income at Disney's media networks surged 24 percent, helped by spot, or scatter, advertising sales for ABC shows such as ``Grey's Anatomy'' and Monday Night Football on ESPN.
Moving football opened space for advertising sales at ABC, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs said on a conference call.
``They have really bolstered their Thursday night, which has been an Achilles heel for two decades,'' said Brad Adgate, director of research with Horizon Media Inc. in New York.
Iger, 55, is adding theme-park attractions and developing video games based on Pixar characters to sustain profit growth after net income surged 33 percent in the year ended Sept. 30.
Lower attendance and guest spending at the company's Hong Kong resort hurt theme-park profit. In an interview, Iger said the company is meeting challenges at the park ``head-on.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at [email protected]
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