DIS: Disney Stock Rallies 6% as Earnings Deliver Surprise Beat. Revenue Flies, Too

Entertainment giant topped it off with a better-than-expected user growth in Disney+. All in all, it was a good first quarter.

📈 Top and Bottom Beat Consensus

• Disney DIS soared 6% in pre-market trading Wednesday after the entertainment titan delivered a fiscal second-quarter performance that beat expectations across the board.
• The House of Mouse turned in adjusted earnings per share of $1.45 — comfortably above the $1.20 consensus — while revenue climbed 7% year over year to $23.62 billion, also topping forecasts.

📺 Disney+ Delivers a Plot Twist

• Streaming wasn’t supposed to go hard this quarter — but it did. Disney had warned of a potential decline in subscribers. But the company instead posted a surprise gain of 1.4 million Disney+ users, bringing the global total to 126 million, well above the 123 million expected.
• The direct-to-consumer segment, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, saw revenue grow 8% to $6.12 billion, driven by both higher prices and subscriber growth.

🎁 The Mouse Has a Plan — and It’s Working

• Net income ballooned to $3.28 billion from a $20 million loss a year ago. All that good stuff prompted Disney to raise its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $5.75 — a 16% jump from fiscal 2024 and a clear upgrade from earlier “high single-digit” growth targets.
• CEO Bob Iger and team also offered a modestly upbeat subscriber outlook for the current quarter, signaling that the turnaround in streaming may have legs.