Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild walk the picket line outside of Disney Studios in Burbank, California, on July 18, 2023.
Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images
When the markets close Wednesday, all eyes will be on Bob Iger.
The Disney CEO has a laundry list of issues to address during the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call.
Linear advertising and television subscriptions are down, its movie studio has been hit or miss at the box office, Hollywood’s actors and writers are on strike and streaming losses continue to escalate.
Iger has hinted that Disney’s TV networks, excluding ESPN — which has been searching for strategic partners and on Tuesday announced a sportsbook partnership with Penn Entertainment — “may not be core” to the business anymore.
Here is what analysts expect from Disney’s quarterly report:
- EPS: 95 cents per share expected, according to a Refinitiv consensus survey
- Revenue: $22.5 billion expected, according to Refinitiv
- Disney+ total subscriptions: 151.1 million expected, according to StreetAccount
Ahead of Disney’s earnings call, investors are looking for more clarity on how Iger plans to fix Disney’s TV business and juggle the decline of subscribers at Disney+.
Separately, Iger is lookin to take full control of Hulu, which Disney shares ownership of with Comcast. Buying out the remaining one-third stake is expected to cost at least $9 billion before negotiations.
The only bright spot for Disney appears to be its theme park division, which has more than rebounded after pandemic-related closures and is expected to post revenue of around $8.1 billion, a nearly 10% jump year over year, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
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