Disney CFO on earnings beat: 'The magic is back at Disney'
Disney (DIS) shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and provided strong guidance. Disney CFO Hugh Johnston sits down with Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to discuss the print and what's next for the company. The CFO tells Yahoo Finance there are “a couple of things going on right now,” saying, “Obviously, 2024 was a terrific year, and Q4 was a great cap to a terrific year, 6% revenue growth, 21% [return on investment] ROI and then, of course, 39% [earning per share] EPS growth.” Johnston adds, “In terms of the way we thought about the business, we've got two back-to-back billion-dollar movies. We've got terrific things going on with women's college basketball and college football. So, [we] certainly feel great about all of that. In addition to that, the streaming service now has turned significantly profitable for two quarters in a row. And then, of course, we had a record year in the experiences business. And then, last but not least, streaming. We added about six million subs over the third quarter. So I think it's a combination of all of those factors and the portfolio working.” “The fact that we've been investing in those things as well is, and the fact that we've got sort of good visibility into the future is what has led us to provide forward guidance and, I think, the confidence that we have in those investments, whether it's the investments in streaming or the investments in the experiences business, is what's leading investors to basically look at the guidance and say, 'Yeah, this is something that that we're really bought into.’ We feel very positively about it,” he says. Johnston explains that the strategy under CEO Bob Iger’s leadership is to focus on quality content rather than quantity. “A few years ago, we were producing a lot of content to try to fill the streaming service, and we stretched ourselves in some ways, probably too thin. One of the things that Bob Iger said when he came back is I want to put creativity back into the center … I do think that that focus on raising the bar on quality and delivering, really, I think, the best content in the industry is, is an indication that the magic is back at Disney." Watch the video above for more about Disney’s streaming business, content strategy, experiences segment, the impact of the upcoming Trump administration, and more. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
