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Shares of the Walt Disney Co. gained 4% in after-hours trading Thursday after it reported quarterly results roughly in line with Wall Street analysts’ estimates — days before its much-anticipated streaming service begins.
Disney DIS, +1.29% said it earned $1.05 billion, or $1.07 a share, compared with $2.32 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 34% to $19.1 billion, from $14.3 billion a year ago.
Revenue from the company’s media networks rose to $6.5 billion, up 22% from $5.3 billion a year ago. Revenue from parks and resorts came in at $6.65 billion, up 8% from $6.14 billion a year ago. Disney’s studio entertainment segment brought in $3.3 billion in revenue, up 52% from $2.2 billion last year, thanks to strong box-office numbers.
“We’ve spent the last few years completely transforming the Walt Disney Co. to focus the resources and immense creativity across the entire company on delivering an extraordinary direct-to-consumer experience, and we’re excited for the launch of Disney+ on Nov. 12,” Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said in a statement announcing the results.
Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Disney to report adjusted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 94 cents a share on sales of $19.2 billion.
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The company’s $6.99-per-month streaming service, Disney+, is scheduled to launch next week, featuring content from Marvel, Pixar, “Star Wars,” National Geographic and more. Investors hope that Disney executives will give at least some indication of demand for the new service on the conference call with analysts after the results. That call is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
Disney+ also announced a distribution deal with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.42% to carry its content on Fire TV.
The entertainment giant faces a gantlet of rivals, new and old, in the burgeoning streaming market: Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.15% , which launched Apple TV+ on Nov. 1; industry leader Netflix Inc. NFLX, +0.34% ; and forthcoming services from AT&T Inc.’s T, +0.43% HBO Max and Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA, +1.09% NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
Disney in August reported fiscal third-quarter profit and sales that missed Wall Street’s expectations, a disappointment Disney pinned on the integration of its $71 billion acquisition of assets from 21st Century Fox.
Disney had projected that the new business would skim about 35 cents a share off its profit, but it subtracted around 60 cents a share.
Disney shares have gained 20% so far this year, compared with 23% and 19% for the S&P 500 SPX, +0.27% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.66% , respectively, in the same period.
