3rd quarter earnings - fingers crossed!

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Disney is scheduled to announce their 3rd quarter 2009 earnings after market close today - Thursday, July 30.

Personally, eyes, fingers, toes, legs and arms crossed here that they have a GREAT quarter announcement. They deserve some good news in the earnings column after a couple which were less than stellar.

Have they done enough to trim expenses?

So what do you think......thumbs up? or not so great?

 

[anthony2k7]

lets hope so, as I assume quite a lot of the rumoured expansion/new parks will depend on good results before getting final sign off to go ahead.

 

[jimmymac]

Keeping happy thoughts but I'm not sure that's going to help. The fact that they're extending free dining into December shows me that even though people are in the parks, they're not spending the way they did in the past

 

[pntrdoc]

As of last night per TV they had a 14% profit

 

[jimmymac]

AP expects an 18% decline in earnings per share to 51 cents with a 4% overall decrease in revenue

 

[TDSAXX]

Disney will not base a decision as big as expanding a park based on one quarter's numbers, especially when we are in the middle of a major recession that is effecting almost every business in America.

 

[crazy4wdw]

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Disney Co. earnings will shed light on outlook for Disney World
posted by Jason Garcia on Jul 30, 2009 2:15:36 PM

The Walt Disney Co. will report fiscal third-quarter earnings just after 4 p.m. this afternoon, which will show just how tightly Walt Disney World and the rest of the company's theme parks are being squeezed by the recession -- and, perhaps, give an indication of how much longer it will continue.

Wall Street analysts widely expect attendance Disney to report that attendance at its U.S. resorts held steady or even rose slightly during the April-through-June period when compared with the same quarter last year. That's in part because of the heavy discounts Disney has been offering travelers and in part because of the favorable timing of the busy Easter holiday (April this year, March last year).

Of course, those discounts will weigh on Disney's bottom line. Citi Investment Research predicts total revenue at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts shrank 16.6 percent during the quarter and operating profit tumbled 34.5 percent; RBC Capital Markets predicts declines of 12.4 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively.

"We're looking for parks to be hardest hit [among the Disney Co.'s major segments] by the economic weakness despite the recent promotional activity," Citi analyst Jason Bazinet wrote in an earnings preview.

More importantly, Disney executives should provide some clues about whether they expect conditions to improve this fall or winter. Look for details such as future booking patterns or attendance and guest-spending trends.

Disney's report "should shed some light on consumer spending at worldwide parks," Tuna Amobi, a media-and-entertainment analyst at Standard & Poor's, wrote in a brief preview today.

 

[crocko]

From a Studios standpoints, things going pretty well right now. UP making some very good money and The Proposal has been probably the 2nd biggeest surprise of the summer.

 

[crocko]

ugh -- double post

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

The update from Orlando paper....

The Walt Disney Co. said this afternoon that profit fell 26 percent during its third fiscal quarter, as the global recession continued to squeeze spending on everything from theme parks to television advertising.

The company said it earned $954 million during the three months that ended June 27, down from nearly $1.3 billion during the same period a year ago. Total revenue sank 7 percent to $8.6 billion.

Excluding one-time charges, Disney said it earned 52 cents a share, narrowly topping Wall Street estimates.

Disney's theme parks were among the hardest-hit segments of the Burbank, Calif.-based company's media-and-entertainment empire.

Operating profit in the company's Parks and Resorts unit sank 19 percent to $521 million on total revenue that was down 9 percent to $2.8 billion -- even with the benefit of the Easter holiday week shifting from March 2008 to April 2009. Disney blamed the slump in part on lower spending at Walt Disney World, where widespread discounts eroded average hotel rates and average ticket prices. Sponsorship income also fell at Disney World.

Disney also cited softness at Disney Vacation Club, its Celebration-based time-share arm, and Disneyland Paris.

On a conference call to discuss the results, Disney executives said attendance at Walt Disney World remained flat with last year's levels, while attendance at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., rose 10 percent. The comparisons with a year ago were boosted by the shift of the Easter holiday from March 2008 to April 2009. But guest spending at the two U.S. resorts fell 6 percent for the period.

Attendance could take a hit going forward. Executives said theme-park bookings for the company's fourth quarter are up slightly from the same point a year ago -- but that is with an extra week in the quarter, because of a quick in Disney's fiscal calendar.

When the extra week is stripped out, bookings are running 7 percent behind last year's pace.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Walt Disney Co. profit falls 26 percent on theme park, advertising, DVD slumps. Though discounts again helped sustain attendance, Disney says future room reservations at theme parks are running behind last year's pace.

Jason Garcia
Sentinel Staff Writer
7:41 PM EDT, July 30, 2009

Walt Disney World's attendance could be headed for a drop after months of staying afloat despite the deep global recession.

Executives at the Walt Disney Co., reporting financial results for the company's fiscal third quarter on Thursday, said fourth-quarter room reservations at their U.S. theme parks are running 7 percent behind last year's pace during the comparable time period.

"It's a challenging marketplace," Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said during a conference call. "And we do expect that challenge to continue."

The comments came as Burbank, Calif.-based Disney reported results that showed the recession continuing to exact a toll across the company's media-and-entertainment portfolio.

Profit fell 26 percent during the three months that ended June 27, dropping from nearly $1.3 billion a year ago to $954 million. Revenue sank 7 percent for the quarter to $8.6 billion.

Excluding one-time charges, Disney earned 52 cents a share, narrowly topping Wall Street estimates.

Television advertising, DVD sales and merchandise royalties all suffered. And the theme parks continued to slump.

Operating profit at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts fell 19 percent to $521 million, while total revenue was down 9 percent to $2.8 billion, despite favorable timing of the busy Easter holiday.

Disney blamed the division's struggles in part on lower guest spending at Disney World, where widespread discounts eroded average hotel rates and average ticket prices. Combined per-capita guest spending at Disney World and Disneyland fell 6 percent during the quarter compared with a year earlier.

But the discounts again helped Disney sustain attendance levels despite the tough economic environment: Combined attendance at the company's U.S. parks rose 3 percent from a year ago, with Disney World flat and Disneyland up 10 percent.

Sponsorship income also fell at Disney World, though a spokesman attributed the decline to difficult comparisons from a year ago, when the company benefited from fees paid as part of a contract renewal with JP Morgan Chase for Disney-branded Visa credit cards.

Iger said Disney has commissioned research demonstrating the advantages of using promotions to stimulate park attendance. Among them: A "spike" in consumer's price-to-value perception of Disney that could encourage return visits.

Further, Iger said, the research showed that discounts have lured travelers who were not otherwise planning Disney vacations. Some stock analysts had expressed concern that the promotions were simply cannibalizing future theme-park business by persuading travelers who were planning to take trips later this year or in 2010 to travel immediately instead.

"We're attracting people today that would never have come before," Iger said.

Still, maintaining attendance levels in the months ahead will likely be challenging.

Although company executives said fourth-quarter room reservations are "slightly ahead" of last year's pace, that is because this year's fourth quarter includes an extra week, thanks to a quirk in Disney's fiscal-year calendar. Without that extra week included, combined reservations at Disney World and Disneyland are lagging last year's pace by 7 percent.

The company did not rule out extending its current discounts or introducing new offers. Consumers, Iger said, are "still out there looking for value. And that's a fact that we obviously can't ignore."

Michael Corty, an analyst who follows Disney for the stock-research firm Morningstar Inc., said the comments indicate that Disney management does not see an imminent recovery for its theme parks.

"I think they're really being cognizant of the fact that the economy is still soft, and I think they're staying flexible," Corty said. "I would assume they're taking things week-to-week at this point."

Beyond the parks and resorts, Disney also reported continuing struggles for its movie studio, which swung to a $12 million second-quarter loss from a $97 million operating profit a year ago. Although the Pixar film Up was a hit during the quarter, DVD sales fell as titles such as Bedtime Stories and Confession of a Shopaholic fell far short of last year's National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets and Enchanted.

Operating profit at Disney's media networks, which include ABC television and ESPN cable, fell 13 percent because of lower advertising sales and a shift in the timing of revenue recognition from sports programming. Operating profit fell 37 percent in Disney's consumer-products division, though its new interactive-media unit reported a narrower loss compared with a year ago.

 

[doconeill]

I think a lot of companies would kill to still have a 20% profit margin right now...

 

[anthony2k7]

I wonder how much of the fall in profits at WDW can also be linked to PI being closed?

 

[crocko]

I wouldn't think much.

 

[lugnut33]

I think this needs to be highlited:

The company still made a profit of almost 1 billion dollars and over half of that came from the theme parks!!!!!!

 

[movie77]

I think this needs to be highlited:

The company still made a profit of almost 1 billion dollars and over half of that came from the theme parks!!!!!!

Exactly. They continue to under invest in the experience at WDW and use that as a cash cow to support the rest of their businesses hoping that loyal WDW fans don't mind.

 

[skier_pete]

My company (Fortune 100 but will remain nameless) is making a >$1 billion in profits, yet they are still having temporary layoffs (1 week per quarter) to save money. So I lose 8 % of my income while the big shots roll in dough.

Point is, it's hard to feel bad for these companies when they aren't actually losing money.

SkierPete

 

[michelleiada]

I agree....they are a company that is still profitable which is more than many companies can say! They have had to make many cut backs at the resorts and the parks too and have had to give people more for their money. We were at WDW in May. We have been several times in May and have always found it to be a non-crowded time to go. This year we found it to be very crowded, with long waits at all rides (even with rain). The 4/3 promotion had a lot to do with this I'm sure. I believe that they will have to continue offering promotions to fill the resorts and parks, especially with the competition. It is much cheaper to go over to Universal and stay in one of the resorts there. Now...I personally love Disney....and would not choose Universal over it....but I know many that would and already have. If you are not a diehard Disney fan, you are going to go where you get more for your moneyl Disney has got to start putting some of those profits back into the WDW Resort. They need to keep it fresh like the competition is doing.