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Feb 9, 2022 - Economy

Disney stock rises on earnings beat, subscriber gains

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Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Disney's stock was up nearly 8% in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the entertainment giant reported strong revenue and earnings gains attributed to recovery at its parks and resorts segment. It also reported better than expected subscriber growth across its streaming products.

Why it matters: Investors were bracing for the worst following Netflix's earnings report last month, which showed disappointing subscriber growth forecasts.

Details: In total, the company has 196.4 million subscribers across all of its streaming products globally. By comparison, Netflix has roughly 222 million paid subscribers globally.

  • Disney added 11.8 million subscribers to its Disney+ service last quarter. ESPN+ now has 21.3 million subscribers. Hulu has a total of 45.3 million subscribers, with 40.9 subscribing to its on-demand service only, and an addition 4.3 million subscribing to Hulu with live TV.

Be smart: Disney said it saw strong recovery last quarter at both the box office — thanks to "Spider Man: No Way Home" — and in its parks and resorts segment.

  • The company's theme parks, resorts and product sales division more than double its quarterly profit year-over-year compared to the first fiscal quarter of 2021, thanks to pandemic restrictions easing.

By the numbers, via CNBC:

  • Earnings per share: $1.06 adj. vs 63 cents expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts
  • Revenue: $21.82 billion vs $20.91 billion expected, according to Refinitiv
  • Disney+ total subscriptions: 129.8 million vs 125.75 million expected, according to StreetAccount

The big picture: In a statement, CEO Bob Chapek noted, "This marks the final year of The Walt Disney Company’s first century." Disney was founded in 1923.

Go deeper: Disney earnings from past year

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