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Market indices all came back in lock-step off early-afternoon lows this Hump Day session, with only the blue-chip Dow index failing to close in the green. The Dow, now wallowing in a period of 7 of 8 trading days lower, closed -41 points or -0.12% (still, better than the -322 points it was down at session lows). The S&P 500 led the way among the top indices, +0.44%, with the Nasdaq close behind at +0.44%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained +0.26% on the session.
The big earnings release after today’s close was from The Walt Disney Company (DIS - Free Report) , which beat expectations on both sales and earnings in its fiscal Q2: 93 cents per share was ahead of the 89 cents expected (though down from the $1.08 posted in the year-ago quarter), while revenues of $21.82 billion edged the Zacks consensus $21.73 billion. But seeing as shares are down -4% on the news in late trading, we see these headline numbers as the only real positive takeaways.
Not that the underlying metrics are bad: Parks & Experiences, Disney’s fastest-growing business, was up +23% quarter over quarter. Its Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business, which lost more than a billion dollars in its Q4 report, was down “only” -$659 million — a nice improvement from the -$840 million consensus estimate. And reinstated CEO Bob Iger mentioned in the press release that he was “pleased” with developments in Disney’s streaming business.
That said, its streaming business, Disney+, notched 157.8 million subscribers in the quarter, down from the 163 million analysts were looking for. And Average Revenue per User (ARPU), an important metrics for this line of business, was $4.44 versus $4.52 expected. Much of this is the entire streaming industry finding its longer-term equilibrium; we’re still in the nascent stages, outside longer-term streaming companies like Netflix (NFLX).
Disney’s conference call will likely iron out some details not yet available. Iger’s personal take on the ongoing writer’s strike among the unique situation in the present quarter. (The Walt Disney Company, with its rich, vast history of content, may be better situated than most on this particular article.) But what we know from this quick take is that Disney has now outperformed expectations in two of its last three quarters on earnings.
Tomorrow morning, the April Producer Price Index (PPI) report hits the tape, just as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in this morning. We expect a swing from negative month over month headlines, and a slight uptick on core. Year over year PPI last month reached +2.7% on headline, +3.6% on core — big drops from the previous month, and more than 4x lower on headline than we saw a year ago, which were 40+ year highs. Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
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Disney Beats Q2 Estimates, Stock Trades Down
Market indices all came back in lock-step off early-afternoon lows this Hump Day session, with only the blue-chip Dow index failing to close in the green. The Dow, now wallowing in a period of 7 of 8 trading days lower, closed -41 points or -0.12% (still, better than the -322 points it was down at session lows). The S&P 500 led the way among the top indices, +0.44%, with the Nasdaq close behind at +0.44%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained +0.26% on the session.
The big earnings release after today’s close was from The Walt Disney Company (DIS - Free Report) , which beat expectations on both sales and earnings in its fiscal Q2: 93 cents per share was ahead of the 89 cents expected (though down from the $1.08 posted in the year-ago quarter), while revenues of $21.82 billion edged the Zacks consensus $21.73 billion. But seeing as shares are down -4% on the news in late trading, we see these headline numbers as the only real positive takeaways.
Not that the underlying metrics are bad: Parks & Experiences, Disney’s fastest-growing business, was up +23% quarter over quarter. Its Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business, which lost more than a billion dollars in its Q4 report, was down “only” -$659 million — a nice improvement from the -$840 million consensus estimate. And reinstated CEO Bob Iger mentioned in the press release that he was “pleased” with developments in Disney’s streaming business.
That said, its streaming business, Disney+, notched 157.8 million subscribers in the quarter, down from the 163 million analysts were looking for. And Average Revenue per User (ARPU), an important metrics for this line of business, was $4.44 versus $4.52 expected. Much of this is the entire streaming industry finding its longer-term equilibrium; we’re still in the nascent stages, outside longer-term streaming companies like Netflix (NFLX).
Disney’s conference call will likely iron out some details not yet available. Iger’s personal take on the ongoing writer’s strike among the unique situation in the present quarter. (The Walt Disney Company, with its rich, vast history of content, may be better situated than most on this particular article.) But what we know from this quick take is that Disney has now outperformed expectations in two of its last three quarters on earnings.
Tomorrow morning, the April Producer Price Index (PPI) report hits the tape, just as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in this morning. We expect a swing from negative month over month headlines, and a slight uptick on core. Year over year PPI last month reached +2.7% on headline, +3.6% on core — big drops from the previous month, and more than 4x lower on headline than we saw a year ago, which were 40+ year highs.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>