... On Wednesday, February 5, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is scheduled to report results for its fiscal first-quarter, or the holiday quarter of 2013. The average Wall Street analyst's expectation for the world's largest entertainment company's earnings per share is $0.91, with predictions ranging between $0.84 and $0.97. This means even the most pessimistic analyst that covers Disney is anticipating about 6.2% year-over-year earnings growth for the quarter. ...
Disney's film studio often has capricious results from quarter to quarter and year-to-year, but last quarter was likely a decent one. For example, it was the distributor of Iron Man 3, which had the fifth highest grossing box-office on record and which was made available for digital download and DVD purchase just before the start of the prior quarter. It released Frozen in November, and the movie has already had a worldwide box office take of over $860 million. Disney also released Thor: The Dark World in November, which earned over $630 million. Beyond movie sales, it is likely that Frozen and Thor merchandise also did well last quarter, as the movies opened into the holiday gift-buying season. ...
But some analysts (not all) think that Uncle Walt's stock is overpriced because of the high-grossing movies in the fourth quarter, and the momentum won't last. Therefore ...
... [Disney stock] was downgraded by research analysts at Thomson Reuters/Verus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday, Analyst Ratings Network reports.
A number of other firms have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Walt Disney from $76.00 to $85.00 in a research note to investors on Friday, January 24th. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at Topeka Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Walt Disney in a research note to investors on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. ...
Whether you like Mr. Iger's strategy of turning Disney into the Berkshire-Hathaway of entertainment companies or not, it's certainly paid off, cash-flow wise. The stock price has marched steadily upward. And the acquired companies -- Pixar, Marvel, and most recently Lucasfilm -- have added significantly to Diz Co.'s bottom line.
The place isn't really the company Walt built, but Tim-Warner isn't the company Jack Warner built, either.
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