What to Expect When Disney Reports After the Close

November 7, 2019 by Chris Lange

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Thursday. The consensus estimates are calling for $0.95 in EPS and $19.04 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $1.48 in EPS and $14.3 billion in revenue.

The streaming wars are about to heat up as each service targets carriers and partners to secure their share of your eyeball time. Verizon and Disney have announced that the former will begin offering an extended period of Disney+ to all Verizon wireless unlimited customers and to all new and existing 4G LTE and 5G unlimited wireless customers starting on November 12.

While Netflix is the king of content right now, Disney could pose a real threat with its library of cartoons and movies, not to mention its incredibly popular marvel franchises. On the other hand, it’s hard to discount Apple from anything with its expansive ecosystem, Apple TV and over $200 billion in the bank that could easily be shifted to content creation. The kicker here is that Apple and Disney’s prices are looking to undercut Netflix.

Apple already has debuted its streaming service, and Disney very soon joins the fray.

Excluding Thursday’s move, Disney had performed more or less in line with the broad markets, with its stock up about 20% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock was up closer to 14%.

A few analysts weighed in on Disney ahead of the report:

  • UBS Group has a Buy rating with a $155 price target.
  • JPMorgan has a Buy rating and a $150 price target.
  • Needham has a Hold rating.
  • Wells Fargo has an Outperform rating.
  • Imperial has an In-Line rating.

Shares of Disney traded up about 1.5% at $133.14 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $100.35 to $147.15. The consensus price target is $151.04.