Disney made 'huge strides' in streaming profitability: Analyst

Disney (DIS) reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.22 beating expectations of $0.99, but revenue missed estimates with $23.55 billion versus an expected $23.8 billion. With so many different investments announced, from Fortnite to a new sports app, as well as dealing with a board seat battle, questions around Disney's future performance come into question.

Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Media Analyst Geetha Ranganathan joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the mixed quarterly earnings from Disney and how the company is juggling the many challenges it faces.

In terms of whether or not these earnings will satisfy activist investors, Ranganathan says: "Twenty percent EPS growth, where do you get that in old media right now? If this doesn't satisfy Nelson Peltz, I don't know what will. Bob Iger has obviously done everything that he can. Yes, he does have more things to do in terms of reinvigorating the content pipeline, the movies haven't been doing very well, but he is absolutely working when it comes to articulating a new ESPN strategy. We obviously saw that with the new sports bundle. We're seeing some tangible results when it comes to streaming profitability."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Let's bring in Geetha Ranganathan, Bloomberg Intelligence senior media analyst. Great to see you, Geetha. So as we look at all of these headlines coming from Disney, I would first ask what to you is most significant for shareholders?

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: Hey, Julie. Thanks for having me. I think the first thing is really the cost-cutting measures, whether those are having the intended effect and it definitely looks like they are.

And I think the most important metric in terms of driving future profitability for Disney is really the streaming numbers. And we know that they've been losing a lot of money on their streaming businesses. They lost about $2.5 billion last year. Before that, they lost about $4 billion.

But the whole idea has been to kind of really moderate those losses and we saw some really big improvement there. So just in the same year ago period, they had lost close to almost $1 billion on their streaming business. This quarter, the quarter that they just reported, it was $138 million.

So huge, huge strides that they're making in streaming profitability. They're still guiding to hitting break even or positive profits in the fiscal fourth quarter. But I think they might possibly get there even sooner just kind of looking at the progress that they've made.

JOSH LIPTON: And Geetha, another headline we were just talking about here, I'd love to get your take, that Disney is going to invest $1.5 billion in Fortnite-maker Epic Games. What did you make of that?

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: Yeah, I mean I think it's really important for them to have some play in the video gaming space. So you know, we've heard Netflix time and again when they've kind of addressed talk about competition, the one thing that Reed Hastings would constantly say was we're not really competing against Disney or Amazon. We're competing against number one, sleep and number two video game makers like Fortnite, right? Because you look at all these youngsters, they're constantly so deeply engaged in that content.

And really what all of these media companies are trying to do now is increase their engagement. They want more and more people spending time on the platform, right, because that's how you can finally upsell, that's how you can sell more advertising dollars, and that's kind of their final place. I think this is really good. I mean, Disney is a company that has kind of really struggled, I think, in the gaming space, you know which is why they've only licensed their content. But I think this is really a smart move by them.

JULIE HYMAN: Geetha, I'm seeing that Bob Iger, who is speaking on another network, is saying among other headlines, he's not planning to speak to Nelson Peltz, the man who is leading the sort of proxy fight and activist battle against Disney. Are these numbers, though, enough to satisfy-- try and satisfy activists who were wanting better things from Disney? Are these the better things?

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: These are absolutely the better things, Julie. I mean they just spoke to 20% EPS growth. Where do you get that in old media right now? I mean if this doesn't satisfy Nelson Peltz, I don't know what will.

Bob Iger, obviously, has done everything that he can. Yes, he does have more things to do in terms of reinvigorating the content pipeline. The movies haven't been doing very well, but he is absolutely working when it comes to articulating a new ESPN strategy. We obviously saw with that new sports bundle. We're seeing some tangible results when it comes to streaming profitability.

We know exactly what they're doing or what they're planning to do with their parks. They're investing $60 billion. And I'm not really sure know Nelson Peltz, other than just adding to the noise, I'm not really sure he has any concrete plan that Bob Iger and his team haven't already thought of and addressed.

JULIE HYMAN: Is this actually-- sorry, is this actually a positive thing, though, for-- has it been a positive thing for Disney in that maybe Iger was getting a little complacent and this has spurred him to make these kinds of changes?

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: Yeah, initially, I kind of thought that maybe it was a little bit of a distraction. But kind of seeing what Bob Iger has done in terms of the cost cuts, the $5.5 billion taking that up to $7.5 billion, you know. He's talking about free cash flow going back to pre-pandemic levels.

$8 billion in free cash this year. And then, of course, we're seeing the buyback, the dividend. I think definitely-- I think Nelson Peltz has definitely had an indirect role or maybe even a more direct role to play in this.

JOSH LIPTON: And Geetha, this is the first earnings for new CFO Hugh Johnston. What do you expect to hear from him, Geetha, on the call? You think it's going to be just all about streaming profitability and rightsizing costs?

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: It's going to be really interesting because Hugh Johnston is known to be one of the best communicators at least when it comes to conveying things to the Street. So it's going to be interesting to see whether he is more-- he's going to give more guidance. Disney has typically been fairly conservative, fairly tight lipped when it comes to making projections. So again, really kind of excited to see what he has to say and whether he really wants to provide the Street with a lot more guidance in terms of what to expect.

JOSH LIPTON: Geetha, thank you so much for your insight and time today on all things Disney. We appreciate it.

GEETHA RANGANATHAN: Thank you.