7 May 2025
If you are covering Disney’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“Given the noise around recessions and consumers withholding spending, Disney has actually produced a fairly good set of results. Revenues were up 7%, which was better than forecast, as signs of a pullback in light of the various announcements to come out of the White House have not yet materialised. Crucially, the parks and experiences side of the business, which accounts for a big proportion of Disney’s revenues, came in better than expected with revenues at the parks business growing revenues 6% and profits 9%.
“The entertainment division was also stable, with Disney+ adding subscribers in line with expectations, along with a moderate growth expected over the next quarter. Furthermore, linear TV networks also grew which was a bit of a shock given the perpetual decline of that industry over recent years, while ESPN and sports also did better than expected.
“What these results have shown is that a number of the big names with tech exposure are proving to be rather resilient in what is a very uncertain environment. They are exhibiting defensive qualities as economic concerns grow, but Disney perhaps remains most exposed out of them all given it has one foot in the future and one in the past. It remains very exposed to the health of the global consumer and should recession hit the US, and economic woes spread to other countries, then Disney will likely suffer. Management will be incredibly wary of this and want to manage expectations very carefully.”
