Should You Buy Disney Shares

Walt Disney beat the Q2 profit estimate,earning 1.01 per share versus the 0.93 estimate,but missed on sales,racking up 11.1 billion dollars versus the 11.3 billion estimate.It found a lot of studio success with "The Avengers" film.Media Networks and Entertainment and Theme Parks provided most of the income.Media Networks rose 3%,while Theme Parks gained 9%,and the Studio division was flat overall.
Disney's new CarsLand park was well-received.Worldwide TV was driven by higher sales in international markets-the hot places to sell properties.ESPN charges pay TV operators more than anyone else does.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said every one of our businesses were up nicely year over year.The consumer is still flocking to valuable,good product.Spending is up nicely from a year ago.Visibility is still somewhat lacking in advertising.Generally speaking,there is not much visibility in the ad market.ABC had a modest decrease in advertising for the quarter.
Resort spending is up nicely.We have huge strength in ESPN.The Disney Channel has been on fire,in the number one position.We actually see a relatively strong environment for our channels' franchise fees.
We're relatively consumer-facing and global.Europe is troubling us the most.Our businesses in Asia have been quite strong-the Tokyo and Hong Kong theme parks.People are willing to step up for the cruise ship business and expanded parks.We started to ween ourselves off deep discounts.There's still some room to increase prices based on good,fresh product.
It would be fair to view the environment with some degree of caution,but with our product,our outlook is generally favorable.The world is more complex and competitive than ever before.We've got to have a culture of innovation and a strong infrastructure.We've got to figure out a way to get the government moving forward.That's vital for our business.Corporate taxes have to be looked at carefully,Mr.Iger urged.
Walt Disney Company(DIS)

Disney Grows Across the Board,But Sales Light

The widely held Walt Disney Company reported mixed earnings for Q4.Profits were 0.80 a share versus an estimate of 0.72,while sales were 10.8 billion dollars versus an estimate of 11.2 billion.Parks and resorts showed a 10% increase in revenue,and media and entertainment revenue increased 30%.
We had real strength in our cable networks,led by Disney Channel and ESPN,which brings in 40% of Disney's revenue.We're growing all of our businesses,as by the Marvel acquisition with the movie "The Avengers,"said CEO Bob Iger.The numbers at our parks are very encouraging.I think it says a lot about the American consumer.
We had an NBA strike,but ESPN's advertising was actually up for the quarter.The cruise ships are about 75% booked for the year on 40% more rooms.
The entire cruise ship business was hurt short term by the Costa Concordia sinking in January,but generally speaking,we're seeing a good year ahead for that business.
Foreign sites are stealing and reselling our property,hurting our economy.This company has looked at tech as a new means of opportunity for us;we believe we can monetize it,Mr.Iger stated.
CNBC's Karen Finerman said she owns Disney shares.It's a premier company that doesn't get a premier valuation,and it should,in her opinion.
Disney and Univision are launching a 24 hour English language ABC News channel targeted at Hispanics.Ninety percent of U.S. Latinos under 30 are consuming in English,so the project makes economic sense.
Walt Disney(DIS)