For years, it's been touted as the ultimate corporate power couple: Apple Inc. merging with Walt Disney Co.
Now, an influential Wall Street analyst believes Apple $(AAPL)$ could acquire Disney $(DIS)$ in a mega-move that makes them worth more together than separately. Needham analyst Laura Martin believes the iPhone maker will be worth 15% to 25% more if combined with the Magic Kingdom.
"We believe that great content and a strong distribution footprint are complementary networks," Martin wrote Thursday. "That is, both are worth more if they have the other."
Martin notes Apple is best at distributing content globally via 2 billion high-end mobile devices owned by 1.25 billion affluent customers. Disney, conversely, excels at creating world-class content that is distributed globally across digital screens, as well as the real world through theaters, parks, hotels and cruises, according to Martin.
"We argue that the best way to think about AAPL's valuation, pricing power, competitive advantage period and barriers to entry is through the lens of 1.25B of the wealthiest consumers in the world, using 2B active AAPL devices an average of 4 hours per day," Martin wrote.
Disney's stock was up 1% in late-morning trading Thursday, while shares of Apple are up nearly 1%.
Speculation surrounding a potential Apple-Disney marriage has percolated for years, dating to the late Steve Jobs's reign as chief executive in the early 2000s. Disney CEO Bob Iger considered Jobs a close friend and hinted that if not for Jobs's death in late 2011, the two companies likely would have merged or at least discussed the possibility.
Before dismissing the notion of two media behemoths melding, consider this: Under Iger, Disney has spent nearly $100 billion snapping up companies such as Pixar (which Jobs ran as CEO), Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox.
There's one acquisition Iger has publicly lamented as a transformative deal that got away, however: combining Disney with Apple.