Walt Disney Q2 Results Beats Estimates As Subscribers Increase

(RTTNews) - Shares of Walt Disney Co. (DIS) gained over 3% in extended trading on Wednesday after the entertainment and media conglomerate reported its second-quarter results, with earnings beating Wall Street estimates by a penny, as streaming subscribers rose and theme park revenues increased.

Burbank, California-based Disney reported second-quarter profit of $470 million or $0.26 per share, compared with last year's profit of $901 million or $0.49 per share.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.08 per share, up from $0.79 per share last year. On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated an earnings of $1.07 per share.

Revenues for the quarter jumped 23% to $19.25 billion from last year's $15.61 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $18.91 billion.

"Our strong results in the second quarter, including fantastic performance at our domestic parks and continued growth of our streaming services—with 7.9 million Disney+ subscribers added in the quarter and total subscriptions across all our DTC offerings exceeding 205 million—once again proved that we are in a league of our own," said CEO Bob Chapek.

Disney Parks, Experiences and Products revenues more than doubled to $6.65 billion from $3.17 billion last year. Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution segment revenues gained 9% to $13.62 billion from $12.44 billion last year.

Direct-to-Consumer revenues, which includes Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ services, increased 23% to $4.9 billion. Disney+ subscribers surged 33% to 137.7 million from 103.6 million last year. Meanwhile, Hulu recorded 10% subscriber growth to 45.6 million subscribers and ESPN+ subscriber growth surged 62% to 22.3 million.

DIS closed Wednesday's trading at $105.21, down $2.47 or 2.29%, on the NYSE. The stock, however, gained $3.04 or 2.89% in the after-hours trading.