Disney posted muted earnings final quarter (ended Sept. 30), as sluggish progress at Disney+ led the corporate to overlook Wall Road earnings expectations. The corporate posted income of $18.53 billion, and earnings per share of $0.37. Wall Road consensus was for an EPS of $0.51 and earnings of $18.79 billion.
Nonetheless, the corporate’s general enterprise stays up considerably from the identical quarter a 12 months in the past, when the pandemic was impacting practically each sector of the corporate, from closed theme parks to mild TV slates to advertisers nonetheless sitting on the sidelines.
The direct-to-consumer enterprise stays a very powerful income driver for the corporate, with income of $4.56 billion, up 38 % from a 12 months earlier. Disney’s linear networks unit, which incorporates ESPN and ABC, hit $6.7 billion, down 4 % from a 12 months in the past. The corporate’s theme parks and experiences division up greater than 99 % to $5.45 billion, as theme park attendance at Disneyland and Walt Disney World continued to normalize.
The decrease outcomes on the linear networks “was as a result of shift of sports activities programming prices from fiscal 2020 into fiscal 2021 on account of COVID-19, partially offset by increased sports activities promoting income,” the corporate stated.
As beforehand forecast by CEO Bob Chapek, Disney+ subscriber progress slowed within the quarter, with the service hitting 118 million subscribers, a rise of two million. Disney ended fiscal Q3 with 116 million complete subscribers. Chapek forecast at a Goldman Sachs convention in September that the corporate anticipated to finish the quarter with “low-single-digit” subscriber progress as the corporate expands into new markets and works on retention, however that he was “bullish and assured” about long-term progress.
Analysts subsequently lowered their very own subscriber forecasts.
Development additionally slowed at Hulu and ESPN+, with Hulu including solely 700,000 subscribers to 39.7 million, and ESPN+ including 2.3 million subscribers to 17.1 million. Disney additionally noticed its common income per person (ARPU) proceed to fall at Disney+, hitting $4.12 per subscriber, down 9 % from a 12 months in the past, whereas ARPU at Hulu rose by 1 % to $12.75, and ARPU at ESPN+ was up 4 % to $4.74.
