Disney gains 2% as analysts parse restructuring, strong results
Drew Angerer

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) was 1.9% higher Thursday morning after a momentous earnings report where the company beat expectations, and returning CEO Bob Iger unveiled a restructuring that largely unwound actions of previous chief Bob Chapek.
That included restoring creative and financial accountability to creative leads, breaking out ESPN into a separate division, and pushing for $5.5B in cost cuts, including losing 7,000 jobs.
Wall Street is generally pleased with the shift in direction - or at least the urgency with which it's happening.
Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating, saying the ongoing strength at the company's Parks division and the new approach to media "increase our confidence" in a compound annual growth rate of 20%-plus in earnings per share.
"The hard work is ahead, but substantive and specific cost savings suggest a sense of urgency to maximizing long-term returns," analyst Benjamin Swinburne said. Parks "continues to grow and grow faster than our above-consensus expectations," he added, noting U.S. Parks margins hit an all-time high of 35%.
RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating as well.
"We walk away with much greater confidence in the margin profile for DTC and Linear Networks for FY25 and onward," analyst Kutgun Maral said. Meanwhile, Maral is "highly encouraged" by a revamp to direct-to-consumer strategy ... and ongoing strength at the Parks helps mitigate some of the volatility.
Addressing a question on CNBC Thursday that didn't come up in the company's earnings conference call, Iger suggested the long-presumed buyout of Comcast's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) remaining one-third of Hulu isn't a foregone conclusion, saying "everything is on the table."
Hulu at one point had four co-owners - Disney, Comcast, Fox, and Time Warner - but Time Warner sold out of its share, and Disney bought Fox's media assets, leaving it with two-thirds control. An arrangement between Disney and Comcast has left observers expecting Disney to buy the entirety of Hulu as early as next January.
But there's heavy jockeying for position and billions of dollars at stake between Disney and Comcast as the fate of the general-entertainment streaming service is decided.
The eventful Thursday morning also brought the quick end to a proxy fight launched just last month by Trian Fund Management's Nelson Peltz. "We wish the very best to Bob ... the proxy fight is over," Peltz said.