[ad_1]
Walt Disney (DIS) shares jumped on Wednesday after the leisure big beat earnings estimates, floated the resumption of dividend funds by yr’s finish, and mentioned it plans to chop 7,000 jobs to scale back prices.
Disney reported an adjusted fiscal first quarter revenue of 99 cents per share, exceeding the 77 cents estimated by analysts surveyed by Seen Alpha. Whereas revenue fell 7% from a yr earlier, income climbed 8%.
Walt Disney Earnings Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|
Metric | Beat/Miss/Match | Reported Worth | Analysts’ Prediction |
Adjusted Earnings Per Share ($) | Beat | 0.99 | 0.77 |
Income ($ B) | Beat | 23.5 | 23.4 |
Supply: Predictions based mostly on analysts’ consensus from Seen Alpha
Disney’s theme parks posted a 21% income acquire and the whole lot of working earnings, whereas the corporate’s media and leisure distribution section had direct-to-consumer losses of greater than $1 billion primarily from the Disney+ streaming platform, which offset the earnings at ESPN, ABC and different tv property.
Key Takeaways
- Walt Disney earnings and income topped estimates late Wednesday.
- The leisure big earned 99 cents per share on an adjusted foundation, down from $1.06 per share a yr earlier.
- Shares rose 6% late after CEO Bob Iger mentioned he plans to announce the resumption of “modest” dividend funds by the top of the yr; 7,000 jobs to be minimize.
- Theme parks powered the outcomes, whereas tv revenue helped to offset losses at Disney+.
- Disney’s cost-cutting marketing campaign is focusing on $2.5 billion in annual financial savings.
CEO Bob Iger, not too long ago returned to the corporate’s prime job after the abrupt firing of his predecessor Bob Chapek in November, mentioned on the earnings convention name that he’ll ask the board to renew dividend funds suspended within the spring of 2020 by the top of the yr, “now that the pandemic impacts to our enterprise are largely behind us.”
The dividend will initially be “modest,” Iger, mentioned, with funding for it to return from a cost-cutting marketing campaign Disney is relying on to reserve it $2.5 billion yearly. The corporate posted a free money move deficit of practically $2.2 billion within the newest quarter.
Iger, 71, opted to not announce any restructuring initiatives past these he is already launched. The CEO beforehand led Disney from 2005 to 2020, and his new two-year contract assumes he’ll assist the corporate discover a successor by late subsequent yr earlier than stepping down.
“After a stable first quarter, we’re embarking on a major transformation,” Iger mentioned within the earnings launch. “The work we’re doing to reshape our firm round creativity, whereas decreasing bills, will result in sustained progress and profitability for our streaming enterprise, higher place us to climate future disruption and international financial challenges, and ship worth for our shareholders.”
Iger is going through a proxy battle waged by activist shareholder Nelson Peltz, who’s looking for to interchange one of many firm’s nominees on its board. Some analysts have speculated that the corporate might search to spin off ESPN, which faces strain from cable cord-cutting and escalating sports activities rights charges. The majority of Disney’s weak point in its linear networks unit in the course of the quarter got here on declines abroad in property it acquired as a part of its twentieth Century Fox acquisition in 2019.
[ad_2]
Source link