Disney misses profit estimates as streaming costs take bite, sales soften

By Thomas Buckley | Bloomberg

Walt Disney Co. reported sales and profit that fell below Wall Street expectations, held back by weakness in advertising revenue and higher-than-expected losses in streaming TV.

Earnings in the last quarter of Disney’s fiscal year fell to 30 cents a share, excluding certain items, the company said Tuesday. That missed the average estimate of 51 cents from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales, at $20.2 billion, came up about $1 billion short of analysts’ projections.

Shares of Disney fell as much as 7.2% to $92.66 in extended trading after the results were announced. The stock is down more than a third this year.

Still, the company beat expectations for streaming subscriber additions in the period, signing up 12.1 million new customers for its flagship Disney+ service alone. Total subscribers, including those for its Hulu and ESPN+ products, rose to almost 236 million. Those numbers come after rival Netflix Inc. beat internal forecasts as well as Wall Street expectations in the most recent quarter, adding 2.41 million customers.

Losses at Disney’s direct-to-consumer arm, driven by Disney+, more than doubled to $1.47 billion in the period due to higher programming expenses and the cost of global expansion. Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek reiterated his forecast that Disney+ will be profitable in fiscal 2024, adding that he expected losses to narrow going forward.

“The rapid growth of Disney+ in just three years since launch is a direct result of our strategic decision to invest heavily in creating incredible content and rolling out the service internationally,” he said in a statement. 

Disney has made streaming a major focus for growth. On Dec. 8, the company will begin selling a version of Disney+ that includes ads at a monthly price of $8. The price of its ad-free version will jump 38% to $11 per month. The company reported a decline in its average revenue per Disney+ subscriber, as more customers subscribed through a discounted bundle with the company’s other services.

Profit at Disney’s theme-park unit more than doubled to $1.51 billion, due to higher attendance and increased guest spending, but fell short of what analysts were projecting.

“The parks number is much lower than we expected,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan said on Bloomberg TV. The hurricane and inflation could have impacted consumer demand, she said, in what had been a strong growth area.

“These results don’t look that rosy anymore,” Ranganathan said.

Revenue from Disney’s traditional TV business, which includes networks such as ESPN and ABC, fell 5% in part due to ad sales weakness. Profit rose 6% to $1.74 billion due to lower programming costs in cable TV, particularly for sports. Disney reduced the number of Major League Baseball games it aired this season under a new contract.