Walt Disney tests its top media dominance when it reports results before the bell Tuesday. Shares are up 28% this year and 4% in May. But it hasn’t been an easy road for the entertainment giant as it battles activist investor Nelson Peltz and Trian Partners in a heated proxy war. Analysts polled by LSEG expect the theme park operator to post earnings of $1.10 per share and total revenue of about $22.11 billion in its fiscal second quarter. two. “We expect DIS YTD’s F2Q to reflect a continuation of the strong fundamental momentum reported in F1Q,” Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich wrote in an April note. Some Wall Street firms were more optimistic about the company going public. Last month, JPMorgan analyst David Karnovsky turned bullish on the stock and raised his price target to $140 — up about 23% from Friday’s close — as plans and Recent cost-cutting initiatives are starting to bear fruit. “While we are cautious in the media landscape due to additional losses on PayTV and advertising headwinds, Disney is our favorite of the group due to the company’s unique content, improving streaming itself and park operations provide an attractive avenue for capital deployment,” he said. Written. Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall raised his price target to $141 per share, suggesting a 24% upside. He sees the end of Disney’s proxy fight as an opportunity for management to refocus on execution, including margins in its direct-to-consumer business. wrote Deutsche Bank’s Bryan Kraft as he raised his price target to $130 a share, implying the stock could rise another 14%. All eyes are on the company’s direct-to-consumer DTC business and whether it can reach profitability or breakeven at some point this year remains a key concern. Wall Street tops this reporting season. The business unit includes Disney+ and its streaming portfolio. StreetAccount estimates call for 229.35 million subscribers across the business unit and nearly 155 million Disney+ subscribers. Last quarter, the company lost 1.3 million subscribers due to price increases. At its most recent earnings call in February, Disney said it expected to add 5.5 million to 6 million subscribers in the second quarter. Cahall predicts core network additions will increase in fiscal 2025 and 2026 as the company limits password sharing like peer-to-peer Netflix. He predicts 4 million more subscribers will be added each year. “We believe the market is returning to Disney’s 2005-2015 valuation model, where the company deserves to trade at a modest premium to market because of concerns about terminal value. The end has evaporated from creating a solid streaming business and EPS is once again getting higher and higher.” relevant as DTC approaches breakeven,” Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Jayant wrote in a note last month. Bank of America’s Ehrlich had a similar view, saying in an April report that Disney appears poised to save as much as $7.5 billion in costs. The company remains confident that its DTC business can reach profitability by the fourth quarter, prompting the analyst to increase her price target. to $145 – or up nearly 28% from Friday – and retains its buy rating.