Disney’s Q1 FY21 Earnings Results Webcast - February 11, 2021

[412]

Chapek: "I would characterize this last year as a year of learning...about what we can do in terms of sustained margin growth in our parks."



(Chapek goes on to mention that this is particularly true of Disneyland, where they've eliminated the annual pass program)

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

that didn’t sound good for Disneyland....

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: more on parks
capex... what's in it?


A: Bob...Parks... year of challenge and learning.. how to squeeze yield (dollars) out of people in new and innovative ways! Able to break old ways that weren't working that well. Our 'problem' is too many guests!! So, we now have more levers to control that with new procedures starting from scratch.

A: Christine... parks people have done a great way to control costs.
capex... reducing capex at parks
increase capex in media for tech and DTC infrastructure

 

[Slpy3270]

Interesting language their that at least confirms they are open to the idea. I'm guessing their waiting for Raya and the last Dragon numbers to come in next month.

They're going to delay it again unless vaccinations really ramp up. Much like the newspaper industry's misguided pivot to digital the media conglomerates investing in a day-to-date strategy are going to see less profits and a lot more layoffs and cutbacks.

Disney is not AT&T, and techies are not your friend.

 

[DCBaker]

Christine - Currently operating at 35% of "full capacity".

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: BoA... NFL, ESPN, sports bettings
parks... attendance relates to capacity... how much is capacity


A: Bob... sports... ESPN... we look for rights, long term trends, streaming
sports betting... we have programs about sports betting already on ESPN, relationship with DraftKings and Ceasar's, Las Vegas studio, looking at stuff, some self awareness that this is being complicit with morally evil addictive activity. [my editorializing]


A: Christine: parks capacity: Yes, Christmas hits cap. We're at 35% of *that* full capacity.
double digit per cap yield per person

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: Credit Suisse... streaming... hows full global launch going? on track?
Engagement on D+... do they still watch as much, for example
Cadence on content, e.g., 100 titles per year, hows that coming?


A: Bob.. streaming rollout: We're on schedule for end of the year. All green lights. We will rule the world. [my editorializing]

Christine... we're adding something every week. We are pleased with engagement, for example, with WandaVision. Still on track for 100+ *new* titles per years.

 

[DCBaker]

Bob - we will have some level of social distancing and mask wearing for the rest of the year.

No expectation of social distancing and masks wearing in 2022.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: Citi... parks... stock price assuming going back to normal assuming back to normal, but people will still have to do hygiene protocols all the way to end of calendar year

A: We will still have some distancing and mask for rest of the year as planned. BUT, Fauci said everyone vaccinated by end of April. So... I don't know what I'm talking about [editorializing]

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: Sachs... D+ trends ahead of schedule. Will you reset predictions?


A: Christine... originally, and not changing it, profitability will be in 2024. We investing *big* in new quality content. Plus we now still have all the infrasctructure costs to go global. And advertising.


Q: Will you still advertise and engage?

A: Yeah will still advertise, duh.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Bob brags of MCU/SW constantly putting out new episodes.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Disney+ expected to be profitable in 2024. I guess that’s old news but I hadn’t made a mental note of that yet.

By 2024 streaming might be old news! Haha.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Q: Hulu... what's up ad v ad-free stats? Esp. with other streamers providing ad-free.
Sports... mega-events. What's up with that?


A: Christine... Hulu.. SVOD... ad v. no-ad. More are in ads. Nice growth there and addressable advertising there.

A: Bob... multicast... ESPN+ does that better than the rest.
Give more choices and options to consumers.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Bob - we will have some level of social distancing and mask wearing for the rest of the year.

No expectation of social distancing and masks wearing in 2022.

Bob then second guesses himself with quoting Fauci's claim of everyone vaccinated before summer starts... so... that might change.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

No expectation of social distancing and masks wearing in 2022.

I feel like it's too early to say this, unless he's doing so to encourage bookings for next year, which some expect Disney to start soon.

 

[Slpy3270]

I have ad-free Hulu (served with HBO Max, Cinemax and Showtime) so the ad stuff doesn't matter to me.

 

[donsullivan]

Q: Citi... parks... stock price assuming going back to normal assuming back to normal, but people will still have to do hygiene protocols all the way to end of calendar year

A: We will still have some distancing and mask for rest of the year as planned. BUT, Fauci said everyone vaccinated by end of April. So... I don't know what I'm talking about [editorializing]

Telling people they’ll need masks until the end of the year is the proper expectation to set about distancing and masks at this point. People planning visits through the year should expect that to all stay.

If conditions change dramatically as the year progresses they can always ease up on them. Nobody is going to push back on things improving enough that masks and distancing are no longer required.

 

[Slpy3270]

There's no way Disney can roll out a dedicated ESPN service without the telecoms dropping the channel in protest, which could bite Disney in the if the standalone service doesn't get the same number of subs as it does with cable/satellite (which, given Showtime and HBO Max's current wholesale numbers, will never do).

 

[seascape]

Disney was profitable even though Parks Resorts and Consumers Products lost 119 million versus a profit of 2.5 billion in last years quarter. Consider that they believe 2.8 billion of impacts on the parks and if it weren't for Covid19 would have seen a huge increase in profits. How much more would the studios have made? Even just $500 million would mean $3.3 billion more. Just think a profit of just $4 billion a quarter, $16 billion a year and a PE of 25 means a market cap of $400 billion.

 

[Lilofan]

Bob - we will have some level of social distancing and mask wearing for the rest of the year.

No expectation of social distancing and masks wearing in 2022.

I don't think Iger would comment on what is going to happen in 2022. He will cash out and soon to be a billionaire is scheduled to retire and the end of the year.