Walt Disney is one of the best-performers on the S&P 500 today
Walt Disney continues to surge after reporting better-than expected financial results for its first quarter fiscal 2015.
The shares of Walt Disney are surging more than 8% to $101.77 per share at the time of this writing, around 12:55 in the afternoon today. In fact, the stock price of the company reached an all-time high at $101.87 per share.
The equities of Walt Disney are currently among the best-performers listed on the S&P 500.
Walt Disney merchandise licensing & retail businesses benefited from “Frozen”
Walt Disney reported that its quarterly earnings increased 23% to $1.27 per share from $1.03 per share during the same period in the previous year.
The world’s largest entertainment company’s earnings were driven by its blockbuster movies such as “Frozen” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
Walt Disney reported that its revenues from consumer products increased 22% to $1.4 billion and its segment operating income rose 46% to $626 million due to the improvement of its Merchandise Licensing and Retail businesses.
According to Walt Disney, the operating income of its Merchandise Licensing business increased due to the strong performance of merchandise based Frozen. The company also benefited from Disney Channel properties, Mickey and Minnie, Spider-Man and Avengers.
Walt Disney added that its Retail Business recorded higher operating income because of the comparable store sales and online sales growth in all regions driven by “Frozen” merchandize.
Smead Capital Management CEO Bill Smead commented, “You can sell a lot of stuff with ‘Frozen’ characters. That’s got to be a 100 percent markup. They are just outstanding, despite some tough comparisons.”
Walt Disney to expand “Star Wars” presence in multiple theme parks
Walt Disney is scheduled to release its first Star Wars picture this year, and it is preparing to introduce related-attractions at its theme parks in California, Florida and Shanghai, which is scheduled to open on 2016.
Bob Iger, of Walt Disney said, “We’ve developing plans right now for a substantial increase in ‘Star Wars’ presence in multiple places. Our Imagineers are hard at work. You’ll see a lot more ‘Star Wars’ at Disney and Disney parks in the future.”
