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Disney shares whacked on TV business outlook
Walt Disney (DIS) on Tuesday posted quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street estimates but revenue that came in below projections as international theme park growth slowed.
The media and entertainment giant posted earnings of $1.45 per share on $13.1 billion in revenue, up 13 and 5 percent year over year, respectively. Shares initially fell about 2 percent in extended trading, but shed another 4 percent after executives reined in expectations for television subscribers as consumers move away from traditional cable packages.
Analysts expected Walt Disney to report earnings of $1.42 a share on $13.23 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Sales in the company's media networks-its biggest segment, which includes ABC and ESPN-rose 5 percent from the year-earlier period to $5.77 billion. In the company's conference call, CEO Bob Iger detailed subscriber losses for crucial television channels and the "continued development" of new TV alternatives.
But Martin Pyykkonen, a senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, noted that strength in other businesses, as well as a potential standalone ESPN subscription in the future, could help mitigate those losses.
"There's some challenges and certainly the cable breaking of the bundle is one of those," he said in a CNBC "Fast Money" interview. "I don't think this is a severe problem, right now at least."
Read More Star Wars $2B gross to boost Disney: Analyst
Disney's studio entertainment revenue climbed 13 percent to $2.04 billion, boosted by Marvel blockbuster "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Analysts have looked for that segment to drive bigger returns with the reboot of the Star Wars franchise later this year.
"The softness in the revenues, I think that's the uncertainty of the economies in both Europe and China as well as forex. But everything else is firing on all cylinders. Wait until Q4 when Star Wars opens up; it's going to blow the top off of any opening records at the box office and unleash a whole new torrent of merchandising capabilities," said Porter Bibb of Mediatech Capital Partners in a CNBC "Closing Bell" Interview.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Disney's shares had gained about 30 percent year to date, boosted by news of upcoming "Frozen" and Star Wars sequels, making it the fastest-growing stock in the Dow Jones industrial average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI). The Dow, on the other hand, is down about 2 percent for the year.
The company's parks and resorts business was sluggish internationally, held back by higher operating costs as well as lower attendance at its Hong Kong location. The company did not outline how foreign exchange affected resort sales abroad in an initial press release.
Revenue in the segment still increased 4 percent year-over-year to $4.1 billion. U.S. parks had strong attendance growth, the company said.
"These very solid earnings reports are the fruits of investments from five or six years ago and the fact that Disney has content and entertainment that people want to spend money on and it proves that our economy can get better if you have things that people want to spend money on," said Bill Smead of Smead Capital Management on "Closing Bell."
Read More Disney could make magic with these companies: Traders
On Monday, Walt Disney extended its partnership with Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo, a subsidiary of Fast Retailing (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9983.T-JP), as the retailer looks to expand its presence in China.
Through the collaboration, Uniqlo will design clothing, accessories and plush toys featuring Disney and Marvel characters, expanding a tie-up that began in 2009 when Uniqlo launched its Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse T-shirt collection.
The new product line, known as Magic for All, will launch in the fall.
Disclosures: Bill Smead owns DIS through his ownership of the Smead Value Fund.
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