The Burbank, Calif. company just about matched its profit for the last three months of 2008 thanks to strong performances by its cable channels and movie studios. Theme parks, however, stalled in the bad economy as families cut back on luxuries.
Disney's ( DIS - news - people ) profit for the end of 2009 came to 44 cents a share, a penny shy of the year before. Excluding restructuring charges and write-offs, the mouse house's profit was 47 cents, well above what Wall Street was expecting. Total sales were $9.7 billion for the period.
It wasn't enough to shake the stock, though, which barely budged after the market closed Tuesday, after rising a solid 1.2% during regular trading, and was down nearly 3% in premarket trading Wednesday. The big boost for the quarter came from Disney's movie studios, which saw profits jump 30% despite flat sales.
Home videos like Up and The Proposal did especially well and cost-cutting provided an added benefit. Prescient moves into cable television have helped boost Disney's fortunes lately, as operating profit at its cable networks like ESPN, Discovery and A&E rose 5% to $544 million. Broadcast isn't doing as well.
The ABC network, which brings in less revenue and less profit than Disney's cable properties, saw its operating profit jump 30%, but that was mostly due to a bad debt charge in late 2008 that weighed on prior-year results. ABC garnered lower prime-time ratings and advertising rates, according to Disney. Also dragging on the company's results were its theme parks and resorts, which had flat sales of $2.7 billion and slightly lower profits due to decreasing attendance at Disneyland Paris.
0 comments:
Post a Comment