Disney Raises Cost-Cutting Target To $7.5 Billion Disney (DIS) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday that beat expectations as the company increased its annual cost cutting goal to $7.5 billion, up from the previous $5.5 billion set in February. That includes a $4.5 billion annualized cut to content spending, up from the prior $3 billion.
The company's streaming figures came in much strong than expected with nearly 7 million core Disney+ net additions, compared to consensus calls of 2.68 million.
Streaming losses narrowed to $387 million from a loss of $1.41 billion in the prior year period after the company raised streaming prices for the second time this year, upping the monthly price of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans by more than 20%.
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Alexandra Canal
Alexandra Canal·Senior Reporter
Wed, November 8, 2023 at 10:05 PM GMT+1
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DIS
Disney (DIS) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday that beat expectations as the company increased its annual cost cutting goal to $7.5 billion, up from the previous $5.5 billion set in February. That includes a $4.5 billion annualized cut to content spending, up from the prior $3 billion.
The company's streaming figures came in much strong than expected with nearly 7 million core Disney+ net additions, compared to consensus calls of 2.68 million.
Streaming losses narrowed to $387 million from a loss of $1.41 billion in the prior year period after the company raised streaming prices for the second time this year, upping the monthly price of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans by more than 20%.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected direct-to-consumer losses to mount to $454 million in the quarter. The company previously reported a loss of $512 million in Q3, a $659 million loss in Q2 and a $1.1 billion loss in Q1.
The results follow the official reveal of Disney's next CFO and commitment to purchase Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu.
On the earnings call, the company said it expects free cash flow to balloon to $8 billion in full-year 2024, assisted by lower content spend. Disney expects to spend $25 billion on content next year versus the $27 billion spent in full-year 2023.
It will also recommend a dividend by the end of the calendar year. Shares climbed almost 4% in pre-market trading following the results.
Adjusted earnings of $0.82 a share beat expectations of $0.69 per share and was more than double the prior-year period's earnings per share of $0.30. Revenue, meanwhile, slightly missed estimates of $21.43 billion to hit $21.24 billion, up 5% compared to the prior-year quarter's $20.15 billion.
Wednesday's results mark the first time the media giant delivered earnings under its new reporting structure after CEO Bob Iger reorganized the company into three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, which includes its entire media and streaming portfolio; Experiences, which encompasses the parks business; and Sports, which included ESPN networks and ESPN+.
Here's how those individual segments performed in the quarter versus Wall Street consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Entertainment revenue: $9.52 billion versus $9.77 billion expected
Sports revenue: $3.91 billion versus $3.89 billion expected
Experiences revenue: $8.16 billion versus $8.20 billion expected
Disney's stock has struggled, down about 3% since the start of the year and down 5% since Iger's return.
Disney's Experiences division, which includes its parks, cruise lines and consumer products, saw revenue leap 13% year-over-year in the quarter to hit $8.16 billion. Operating income came in at $1.76 billion, below estimates of $1.87 billion but 30% above Q4 2022's $1.34 billion total.
The company said lower results at its domestic parks and resorts stemmed from a decrease at Walt Disney World Resort due to inflation and lower guest spending.
Disney plans to invest $60 billion into its theme parks business over the next 10 years. Most of its full-year 2024 domestic parks growth will be in the second half of the year.
Price Momentum
DIS is trading near the bottom of its 52-week range and below its 200-day simple moving average.
What does this mean?
Investors have been pushing the share price lower, and the stock still appears to have downward momentum.
