The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) reported a smaller-than-expected loss for its F4Q to prompt RBC analyst Kutgun Maral to upgrade the stock to “Outperform” from “Sector Perform”.

Shares soared about 4% in pre-open trading Friday.

The company reported a loss per share of $0.20 to easily top negative $0.71 expected from the market. Revenue was reported at $14.71 billion, vs $14.20 billion expected from the Street.

Its streaming service, Disney+, now has more than 73 million paid subscribers, offsetting the pandemic-related costs that will total roughly $1 billion in the fiscal year 2021.

“Even with the disruption caused by COVID-19, we’ve been able to effectively manage our businesses while also taking bold, deliberate steps to position our company for greater long-term growth,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company.

“The real bright spot has been our direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company, and on this anniversary of the launch of Disney+ we’re pleased to report that, as of the end of the fourth quarter, the service had more than 73 million paid subscribers – far surpassing our expectations in just its first year.”

Disney said it would forgo its semi-annual dividend due to the COVID impact and investment into direct-to-consumer.

Following the impressive beat, Maral describes DIS as a “unique exposure to a recovery play.” In addition to an upgrade to OP, Maral also hiked the price target to $170.00 per share from the prior $124.00.

“Disney offers investors unique exposure to a recovery play that is supported by a combination of a compelling COVID-hedge with its unabated secular growth story across streaming and attractive underlying businesses like Parks, Consumer Products, and the Studio (i.e., cyclical exposure with premium assets vs. potential value traps elsewhere). Near- term results will remain noisy and headwinds from the pandemic appear far from over, though we are encouraged by operational green shoots and continued execution on cost management,” the analyst wrote in a note on Friday.

Jessica Reif Ehrlich, an analyst at BofA, also raised the price target to $166.00 (up from $146.00) citing robust DTC trends and cost-saving actions. She sees four near-term catalysts for DIS: (1) Analyst Day, (2) add. Disney+ rollouts, (3) theme park re-openings and capacity increases and (4) resumption of feature film/TV releases.

“Despite near term COVID pressures and key mgmt. changes—creating an element of uncertainty as the co. transitions, we believe DIS is well positioned to grow stronger from a faster Disney+ rollout, launch of a Star branded intl. entertainment offering and LT theme park margin potential,” Reif Ehrlich said in a note today.

DIS also saw price target hikes at several other firms this morning, including: Barclays ($150), Wells Fargo ($155), Rosenblatt ($155), BMO ($165).