On Thursday morning, Disney shares were one of the biggest decliners on the Dow Jones index on the New York Stock Exchange, penalized by a note from Jefferies, which initiated its coverage of the stock with a 'hold' recommendation.
Half an hour after opening, the stock was down 0.2%, while the Dow was up 0.1% at the same time.
In a note, the broker said it was optimistic about the American media and entertainment giant's DTC business, which includes the Disney+ video-on-demand platform.
In its view, the decision to combine offerings, raise prices, use advertising revenues, invest in content and exercise cost discipline should pay off in terms of profit margins between now and 2026.
The broker is more cautious, however, about the outlook for the theme park division, which expects business to accelerate in the second half of the current 2024/2025 financial year.
Jefferies also notes that recent theme park sales growth has been driven more by price increases (+5%) than by growth in attendance volume (+2%).
Its target price is $120.
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The Walt Disney Company is a media and entertainment group. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by activity as follows:
- entertainment and audiovisual production (44.1%): TV broadcasting and video streaming (58% of net sales; Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar and Hulu), operation of TV channels and radio stations (22%; ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX and National Geographic) and other (20%; production and distribution of audiovisual content, film licensing, etc.);
- operation of theme parks and hotel resorts (37.5%): operation, as of 27/09/2025, of 74 theme parks (39 hotels) located in the United States (Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, etc.; 42 theme parks and 21 hotels), France (Disneyland Paris; 9 theme parks and 7 hotels), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Disneyland; 8 theme parks and 3 hotels), China (Shanghai Disney Resort; 8 theme parks and 2 hotels) and Japan (Tokyo Disney Resort; 7 theme parks and 6 hotels). The group is also involved in cruise sales (Disney Cruise Line), travel organization (Disney Vacation Club and Adventures By Disney), design and development of parks and other real estate properties, and sale of consumer products (children's books, toys, game software, films, etc.);
- production and distribution of TV and video streaming programmes focusing on sport (18.4%): ESPN and ESPN+.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the Americas (81%), Europe (11.7%) and Asia/Pacific (7.3%).
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