jakeman
Well-Known Member
So say we all.
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Q4 Earnings Report - Parks and Resorts
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Frell, yes!
bclane
Well-Known Member
Ah, a fellow Scaper. Right on!
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
Aside from Parks, this was a weak and disappointing quarter from Disney. The fact the stock went up was purely optimism for future because these numbers were bad.
I am a long term investor, but I am very disappointed.
I am a long term investor, but I am very disappointed.
mikejs78
Premium Member
Q3 was going to not be great - no major films, etc... I suspect Q4 will be better for every division except TV, where ESPN will continue to be a drag. You have Thor Ragnarok exceeding expectations, Coco which is already a hit in Mexico, and of course, Star Wars. That should drive merchandise as well..
For the long term, Disney needs to solve the problem of the albatross of ESPN....
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
When you are spending 3-4 hours in a line to ride an attraction, it takes away from guest spending! lol
mikejs78
Premium Member
Not this old tired argument again...
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
The problem is, ESPN is still a huge profit driver for the company (over 50%) despite its decline. It's a catch 22 because while it's a declining business, it's still hugely profitable.
I think the strategy of managing ESPN while diversifying into other media (Buying 21st Century Fox or others) is the right way to go. ESPN just has to become less of a focus.
Q3 wasn't going to be "great" but they still had expectations, which they failed to meet. It was a poorly managed quarter.
I am the biggest Disney apologist and own a lot of shares (for the long term) but it was the worst Q I've seen in recent memory.
WDWTank
Well-Known Member
By actually EXPANDING the parks!
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Not an argument but fact. He sold much more than anyone else and has the inside track/control of where the stock price goes. 84 million in one week is nothing to sneeze at.
RobbinsDad
Well-Known Member
There's something to this. I doubt this is something they even measure, or if they do it won't be published, but has Disney's lack of investment in WDW attractions actually led not just to overall decreased attendance and spending, but to decreased spending inside the park by those who are attending? Interesting notion.
I believe that per guest spending has increased each quarter over the past few years, but will let others who are more knowledgeable about those numbers provide more concrete information.
And... Right, Iger holding over 1.1 million shares of DIS stock and continuing to approve tens of billions for stock buybacks over the past God-knows-how-many years, and then him selling some of said shares, and thus increasing the value of his stock holdings, is not newsworthy at all. Nope, nothing to see here, move along...
Bender123
Well-Known Member
ESPN and they also need to solve for WDW...when the massive bills for the expansion start coming due, they are going to need a massive upswing in attendance to justify the expansion. A falling guest count during of the best economies in decades is not really promising for the flagship resort.
mikejs78
Premium Member
And it's nothing unusual either. He doesn't have "inside track/control" of the stock price, although his actions certainly influence it, and he is subject to blackout periods where he can't sell the stock. This is common among every CEO of every single public company. CEOs sell their shares, usually in large quantities. Walt did it. Eisener did it. Now Iger is doing it. Nothing to see here.
Stock Buybacks can be very *good* for a company (provided it is done correctly, and not as a substitute for any new investments, or financed by debt, etc....). One thing that gets overlooked in the anti-Iger hate is that he's done more to protect Disney from a hostile takeover than any CEO of Disney has done. Twice in Disney's history (1984 and again in 2004), outside forces have attempted a hostile takeover of Disney with the intent to break it into pieces. By more than doubling it's market cap, and by reducing the number of outstanding shares and driving up the price, it makes it even less likely than before that a hostile takeover could happen. Buybacks also don't necessarily drive the price of a stock up. While they always do short term, if the market senses that the buybacks are out of desperation, the increase will be temporary and a CEO will unlikely be able to capitalize on it due to blackout periods.
This quarter and other recent troubles aside, Disney's growth has been very positive over Iger's tenure - not just in share price, but in market cap, revenue, and profitability. That Iger personally profits from the success of the company he guided is not news, it's normal for a public company.
mikejs78
Premium Member
There are a lot of factors that go into that... And attendance did rise for most of this decade (through 2015 I believe). It's only been the last two years that it's declined. I highly suspect that the new park offerings will drive significant attendance increase, especially with the marketing for the 50th.. Disney can also solve for that by adding deeper discounts on rooms if needed, free dining, etc.. They just likely don't feel the need at the moment, especially with DHS in the state it's in..
Bender123
Well-Known Member
You would think they would be offering more discounts now to fill empty rooms...They can not, realistically, keep removing room inventory to inflate their occupancy numbers, without future problems. Right now, they keep increasing the cost of trips, leading to increased per person spending, but, at some point, the cost will get to where increased spending wont outweigh falling attendance numbers.
If there was ever a time to massively discount tickets, rooms and meals, this is it. You are down almost an entire theme park, Epcot is in the middle of a transformation period and Pandora has not had the desired effect on resort attendance...it seems to be cannibalizing the other parks, not growing overall rates.
mikejs78
Premium Member
When you go to try to book a room anytime between now and the end of the year, most of the hotels are booked solid. Massive discounts wouldn't lead to much. Part of the issue is the removal of room inventory for refurbs/new builds, etc. Disney needs to increase their hotel capacity in order to achieve further growth, and they also need to update the parks to accomodate larger crowds, which currently they can't realistically support. The initiatives in place now do just that, so I think that now isn't the time to try to drive up attendance. Now, in criticism to Disney, they should have planned for this years ago, but failed to. I highly doubt that it's too late though, and with the new additions coming in the next several years and the increased occupancy, I think WDW is primed for growth. ESPN on the other hand, is not.
winstongator
Well-Known Member
Dhs was probably down, and you can infer possibly somewhat from hotel occupancy being down.
allisonmomofthree
Active Member
Thanks for the info 