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Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) closed up ahead of earnings on Tuesday and the reaction is following the same trend in the after-hours session.  Earnings came in at $0.58 EPS $9.629 billion on a comparable basis and Thomson Reuters had estimates of $0.55 EPS and 6% growth to $9.56 billion in revenues.  Adjusted earnings were actually up 18% from the company.

While the bump from The Avengers is a hope, the investment community needs to understand that the benefit on the revenue and income side of that equation actually hits in the current quarter so it will not help Disney’s past quarterly results.  In fact, this last quarter was dogged by a large charge to the John Carter franchise that was deemed a flop at the launch.

Disney’s unit performance was as follows:

• Media networks rose 9% to $4.692 billion in revenue;
• Parks & Resorts rose 10% to $2.899 billion in revenue;
• Studio Entertainment was the eye-sore with a drop of 12% to $1.18 billion in revenue;
• Consumer products rose 8% to $679 million;
• Interactive media rose 13% to $179 million.

Next quarter is one of the larger quarters for Disney and estimates from Thomson Reuters are $0.91 EPS and $11.17 billion in revenues.

Disney closed up 1.1% at $44.30 on the day and shares are up at $45.30 in the after-hours.  Keep in mind that this will mark a 52-week high as the prior 52-week trading range was $28.19 to $44.50.

JON C. OGG