Walt Disney Company Earnings 8/5

[Mouse Trap]

Disney is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow after the bell.

Personally I expect another strong quarter. ESPN/ABC should see a boost from big world cup popularity. I'm sure the revenues from Frozen have yet to thaw as well. We'll probably see the usual price action though, Disney almost always sells-off following earnings no matter what the news is.

I'm more excited to see what they adjust their forecasts to for the rest of the year. The Studios division is likely to remain strong due to the massive success Guardians is shaping up to be, and a continued lineup of big Marvel entertainment.

We'll see what they say about the parks as well. Spending in park and at the hotels will be interesting to hear about as well as any attendance hints, since everyone has been talking about a "slow" summer across CFL.

 

[danlb_2000]

http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q3-fy14-earnings.pdf

 

[danlb_2000]

Parks and Resorts

Parks and Resorts revenues for the quarter increased 8% to $4.0 billion and segment operating
income increased 23% to $848 million. Operating income growth for the quarter was driven by an
increase at our domestic operations, partially offset by a decrease at Disneyland Paris. Parks and Resorts
results include a favorable impact due to a shift in the timing of the Easter holiday relative to our fiscal
periods.

Higher operating income at our domestic operations was due to increased guest spending and higher
attendance, partially offset by higher costs. Guest spending growth reflected higher average ticket prices
for admissions at our theme parks and for sailings at our cruise line and increased food, beverage and
merchandise spending. Higher costs were driven by MyMagic+ and labor and other cost inflation,
partially offset by lower pension and postretirement medical costs.
The decrease in operating income at Disneyland Paris was due to higher operating costs, decreased
attendance and occupied room nights and lower special event revenue, partially offset by higher average
ticket prices.

 

[Mouse Trap]

Looks like a nice, record quarter. Everything appears to be business as usual in the house of mouse. Hoping to get some good info from the conference call on the future.

 

[Jose]

That Disneyland Paris..

 

[ABQ]

ESPN got beat up. World Cup was not a good deal for them, it appears.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

That Disneyland Paris..

What do you expect despite what Seascape typed last month about Disneyland Paris making a profit?

Disneyland Paris hasn't made a profit in years and yet wants a third park that has Marvel. I don't think they are going to get better despite Ratatouille opened up. The fact is Walt Disney Studios Parks needs the DCA treatment and is the only way for Disneyland Paris to get a profit.

 

[ABQ]

Ugh, no good questions,(so far) the first one tried to get them to respond directly to Potter @ Uni, but no. She didn't press hard enough and gave them an easy way to evade.

 

[maxairmike]

ESPN got beat up. World Cup was not a good deal for them, it appears.

Mind sharing the relevant numbers/info/quotes? That's of interest to me, as I had been under the impression that they got a very good return on that $100 million for the World Cup rights.

 

[Mouse Trap]

ESPN got beat up. World Cup was not a good deal for them, it appears.

Please elaborate. From what I've taken in is the world cup was a great deal. The sale of ESPN UK and increased fees is what created a hit to revs.

 

[ABQ]

Please elaborate. From what I've taken in is the world cup was a great deal. The sale of ESPN UK and increased fees is what created a hit to revs.

You're correct that those items resulted in some lost revenue, but advertising revenue just wasn't all that much during the world cup and Rasulo confirmed that as well. Sadly I don't recall his exact wording, though it was all mixed in spinster lingo.

 

[FutureCEO]

bump. Should Disney sell some of their cable networks?

Sports programming continues to get more expensive. People are cutting the cord so to speak. Advertisers are not going to continue to cover the costs for god awful tv shows. And then the question reminds....can cable survive going to the idea of pay for what channels you watch.

If I had to pick the channels I want, it would be: BBC America, Science, History, Discovery, USA and that's basically it. Well sports but under my system those would be special packages.

 

[Mouse Trap]

bump. Should Disney sell some of their cable networks?

Sports programming continues to get more expensive. People are cutting the cord so to speak. Advertisers are not going to continue to cover the costs for god awful tv shows. And then the question reminds....can cable survive going to the idea of pay for what channels you watch.

If I had to pick the channels I want, it would be: BBC America, Science, History, Discovery, USA and that's basically it. Well sports but under my system those would be special packages.

In short, I would say no. ESPN is the clear leader in sports programming and ABC is still performing well. I don't think Disney is over saturated in the cable programming segment. We'll see how the SEC Network does...

If we want to point out real trouble in cable, look to the cable providers. Google and other companies are breaking ground on liberating internet/cable packages which will one day force companies like Comcast into a corner they've never seen before. Adapt or die.