Disney's waning theme park demand overshadowed first streaming profit

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shares traded lower with the ails of the theme park business overshadowing the first-ever profit for the media conglomerate’s streaming division.

Streaming - comprising Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ - contributed some $47 million to the quarter’s operating income tally, Disney revealed.

These three platforms, which in some territories are bundled and sold altogether, generated a total of $6.4 billion of revenue in the quarter which marked a 15% improvement year-over-year.

Notably, it comes less than a day after reports that Disney was preparing to hike subscription prices across these services.

The Disney World and Disney Land theme parks marked a 6% decline in operating profit, with the company (which has raised prices significantly since COVID) noted weaker consumer demand, and, said it could persist in coming quarters.

Group revenue overall amounted to $23.16 billion, ahead of Wall Street analyst expectations of $23.07 billion.

Earnings (adjusted) per share came in at $1.39, also a beat, exceeding estimates of $1.19.

Whilst the parks performance was a focus for investors, with the stock lower on Wednesday, the media conglomerate talked up the strength of its content IP which is currently enjoying support from the successful sequel in the Inside Out franchise, and the strong performance for Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine which is currently project to have scored a $1 billion box office this weekend (its third weekend since its release).

Looking ahead, Disney is expecting the streaming profitability to continue improving in the fourth quarter.

Disney raised its full-year adjusted earnings growth projection to 30%, up from a previous estimate of 25%. In New York, Disney stock was down $3.07 or 3.4% changing hands at $86.89.