Disney Q3 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Miss, EPS Beat, 105.7 Million Core Disney+ Subscribers

by

Media giant The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) reported third-quarter financial results after the market close Wednesday. Here are the key highlights.

What Happened: Disney reported third-quarter revenue of $22.33 billion, which was up 4% year-over-year. The revenue missed a Street consensus estimate of $22.33 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company reported earnings per share of $1.03, which beat a Street consensus estimate of 97 cents per share.

Revenue was broken down as:

Media and Entertainment Distribution: $14 billion, -1% year-over-year

Parks, Experiences and Products: $8.3 billion, +13% year-over-year.

The company reported operating income of $3.56 billion, which was flat on a year-over-year basis. Operating income was up 11% year-over-year for the company's Parks segment and down 18% year-over-year for the Media segment.

Disney reported higher operating results at international parks, with the segment seeing revenue that was 94% higher year-over-year. Domestic theme park revenue was up 4% year-over-year. The company noted that it saw a decline of operating income for domestic parks due to Walt Disney World having higher costs and lower volumes.

"Our results this quarter are reflective of what we've accomplished through the unprecedented transformation we're undertaking at Disney to restructure the company, improve efficiencies, and restore creativity to the center of our business," Disney CEO Bob Iger said.

Disney reported it received a $90-million gain on its investment in DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ: DKNG), which it sold in the quarter. The sale may be related to a recent partnership signed with PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) for the ESPN Bet brand.

For the company's Media segment, revenue was broken down as:

  • Linear: $6.69 billion, -7% year-over-year
  • Direct-to-Consumer: $5.53 billion, +9% year-over-year
  • Content Sales/Licensing: $2.08 billion, -1% year-over-year
Streaming Numbers: Direct-to-consumer revenue was $5.5 billion for Disney in the quarter, which was up 9% year-over-year.

The operating loss for the direct-to-consumer segment was $512 million in the quarter, an improvement of 52% year-over-year.

Here's a look at the company's subscription numbers for streaming segments, with quarter-over-quarter performance.

  • Disney+ Domestic: 46 million, -1%
  • Disney+ International excluding Hotstar: 59.7 million, +2%
  • Disney+ Hotstar: 40.4 million, -24%
  • Disney+ Core: 105.7 million, +1%
  • ESPN+: 25.2 million, flat
  • Hulu SVOD: 44 million, +1%
  • Hulu Live TV: 4.3 million, -2%
  • Total Hulu: 48.3 million, flat
In the eight months since Iger's return, he said the changes made at Disney put the company on track to outpace its initial goal of $5.5 billion in savings and improve direct-to-consumer operating income by about $1 billion in three quarters.

"While there is still more to do, I'm incredibly confident in Disney's long-term trajectory because of the work we've done, the team we now have in place, and because of Disney's core foundation of creative excellence and popular brands and franchises," Iger said.

DIS Price Action: Disney shares are down 1% to $86.55 in after-hours trading Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $84.08 to $126.48.