Mickey: A mouse of a different color?
Posted
Feb 06 2008, 12:32 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
In a market where it's been very difficult to find bright spots, who would've guessed that it'd be good ol' Mickey Mouse providing some cheer? After the close yesterday, Disney reported earnings that have shares up more than 6% today.
So what was it that gave Mickey and crew the extra push? Theme parks! That's right, while we're all discussing whether the economy is heading to -- or already in -- a recession, Disney is seeing bookings and pricing at its theme parks ahead of last year. Maybe US adults are avoiding economic malaise by hiding out with Goofy.
Interestingly, Disney's media networks business did well too. Costs declined because of the writers' strike while ad sales were not affected in a major way. Of course, while this may be good news for Disney, it doesn't put any new episodes of Grey's Anatomy on my TiVo.
Investors on CAPS were hardly caught by surprise. Disney is a four-star stock on CAPS with over 2,200 investors calling it an outperformer. Recently one player, whammabamma, noted that "there is no company in the world that assembles talent the way the Disney/Pixar combination does. [This is a] long-term, classic money-maker."
Fellow Disney bull and CAPS All-Star PennyBuyer added:
$15 dollars for a Hannah Montana movie ticket, twice the normal price. It's hardly even a movie, it's a concert that's filmed, cost $7 million to make … they make millions in the music industry, the movie industry, and [on] shirts, shoes, backpacks, etc. High School Musical is worth billions … they know what they are doing.
Have some thoughts of your own on Disney? Head over to CAPS and join the 80,000-plus investors already rating stocks.
