Disney (DIS) Surges 7% as Disney+ Subscribers Reach 86.8M, Wall Street Goes Bonkers
Get Alerts DIS Hot Sheet
Rating Summary:
29 Buy, 23 Hold, 3 Sell
Rating Trend: Down
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 28 | Down: 33 | New: 12
Join SI Premium – FREE
Shares of Disney (NYSE: DIS) are up 7% in pre-open Friday just two days after hitting fresh record highs following the company’s Investor Day that took place yesterday.
One year after launching its Disney+ streaming service, the company said that the number of subscribers increased to 86.8 million from 73.7 million reported in early October.
The total number of subscribers across all platforms - Disney+, Hotstar, Hulu and ESPN+ - increased to 137 million subscribers as the company announced plans to expand Disney+ to Eastern Europe, South Korea, Hong Kong and other markets.
Furthermore, the company projects to have 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024, higher from its previous estimate of 60 million to 90 million for the same time frame.
Subscription will increase by $1 to $7.99 in March and by 2 euros in Europe to 8.99 euros a month. Disney+ will become a home of new international general entertainment content brand, Star.
“The tremendous success we’ve achieved across our unique portfolio of streaming services, with more than 137 million subscriptions worldwide, has bolstered our confidence in our acceleration toward a DTC-first business model,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer.
“With our amazing creative teams and our ever-growing collection of the high-quality branded entertainment that consumers want, we believe we are incredibly well positioned to achieve our long-term goals.”
Disney also announced that it plans to release about 10 Marvel series, 10 StarWars series and 15 live-action, Disney Animation, and Pixar shows on Disney+ over the next few years. The Kardashian reality show will become available on Hulu.
Following an event-packed Investor Day, Goldman Sachs analyst Brett Feldman reiterated a “Buy” rating on DIS and raised the price target from $157.00 per share to a Street-high $200.00.
“Our higher price target reflects a material increase in our long-term forecasts for DIS’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscribers and revenue as we factor in the company’s newly revealed Star offering and the higher price points for Disney+ that going into effect in 2021,” Feldman wrote in a note sent to clients.
Accordingly, the analyst highlighted 3 key takeaways from yesterday’s event:
- Long-term targets for its Disney+/Star DTC streaming services came in materially above Goldman’s estimates and likely ahead of investor expectations;
- Increased pricing represents an upside surprise;
- DIS remains committed to key legacy platforms despite DTC offerings.
Similarly, BofA’s Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated “Buy” rating and raised the 12-month price objective to $192.00 per share from $166.00.
“Despite near term COVID pressures, we believe DIS is positioned to grow stronger from faster Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ sub growth, launch of a Star intl. and LT theme park margin potential. Key catalysts incl.: (1) Disney+/Star rollouts and price increases, (2) theme park re-openings & capacity incr. and (3) resumption of feature film/TV releases,” the analyst said in a note.
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- BofA Securities Downgrades Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN) to Neutral
- CFRA Upgrades DraftKings Inc. (DKNG) to Strong Buy
- Planet Fitness (PLNT) PT Raised to $100 at BMO Capital
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Analyst Comments, Analyst EPS View, Corporate NewsRelated Entities
Goldman Sachs, Raising Prices, Hulu, Pre Market MoversSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!