Shares of Disney climbed 7% to $110 by midday, hitting its highest intraday share price since early May as Wall Street responded favorably to better-than-expected quarterly earnings and guidance.
The company said it expects a $875 million jump in operating profits for its direct-to-consumer entertainment division which includes its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services for the 12-month period ending next September.
That equates to $1.01 billion profit guidance for the unit, which brought in $143 million in Disney’s 2024 fiscal year, which in turn was a major improvement from years of massive losses, with the streaming division losing $8.2 billion from the 2021 to 2023 fiscal years.
The company’s fourth fiscal quarter results shared Thursday were also strong, as its $1.14 earnings per share and $22.57 billion revenue topped consensus analyst estimates of $1.11 and $22.49 billion, respectively, according to FactSet.
Disney partially attributed the Q4 performance to strong results from the films “Deadpool& Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2,” the top two grossing films worldwide in 2024 with more than $1.3 billion apiece in box office revenue, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
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