Disney owns timeless characters and brands that have been entertaining people for decades. After a decade of great returns for shareholders, the stock didn't have the best outing last year, falling about 44%. But with Disney's streaming business continuing to gain new subscribers and the company's theme parks benefiting from a pickup in travel, the future looks bright for the Magic Kingdom.
Disney+ core subscriber count ended calendar 2023 at 104 million, excluding the international Hotstar service. That is tremendous growth since the service launched in 2019, thanks to a seemingly never-ending pipeline of Star Wars and Marvel content.
Meanwhile, Disney's theme parks are performing exceptionally well. The parks, experiences, and products segment reported a 21% year-over-year increase in revenue last quarter. Operating profits grew even faster at 25%, reflecting solid operating leverage and digital initiatives at the parks to improve the guest experience and lift margins.
Disney has a strong lineup of films and original series this year, including a new Indiana Jones film, The Little Mermaid, and season three of The Mandalorian on Disney+. The recent release of Avatar: The Way of Water was the fourth-biggest launch of all time, bringing in $2.2 billion at the box office. Disney is wasting no time capitalizing on Avatar's popularity by announcing a new Avatar experience coming to Disneyland.
Disney has been turning success at the box office into a lucrative stream of revenue for decades. It has literally thousands of characters across all its franchises that it can mine for years of entertainment. With the stock trading about 50% off its highs, now is a great time to buy the stock before the market changes its mind.
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