-- Walt Disney's (DIS) fiscal second-quarter results came in ahead of market estimates amid revenue gains across all business operations, while the media and entertainment giant reiterated its expectations for growth to accelerate in the second half.
The company on Wednesday reported adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share for the quarter ended March 28, up from $1.45 the year before, topping the FactSet-polled consensus of $1.49. Revenue improved 7% to $25.17 billion, surpassing the Street's view for $24.87 billion.
The stock rose 4.2% in the most recent premarket activity.
"We remain focused on executing our long-term growth strategy," Chief Executive Josh D'Amaro and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston said in prepared remarks. "Our creative and operational momentum drove strong quarterly results, and we continue to expect growth to accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year."
D'Amaro assumed the CEO role in March, succeeding Robert Iger, who will remain as a senior adviser and board member until the end of the year.
For fiscal 2026, the media and entertainment giant anticipates adjusted EPS to grow by 12%, excluding the impact of the 53rd week, and 16% when including that week. It previously projected the metric to rise by double digits. For fiscal 2027, Disney reiterated its guidance for double-digit adjusted EPS growth.
The current average analyst estimate on FactSet is for non-GAAP EPS of $6.63 and $7.35 for fiscal 2026 and 2027.
For the second quarter, revenue in the entertainment division climbed 10% to $11.72 billion, amid a revenue gain of 13% in subscription video-on-demand services, driven by "improved monetization" following last year's rate adjustments and volume growth, according to D'Amaro and Johnston. Subscription and affiliate fees inclined 14%.
Experiences revenue moved 7% higher to $9.49 billion, with global guests, which aggregates domestic and international parks attendance along with passenger cruise days, up 2% on a yearly basis, D'Amaro and Johnston said. Domestic and international parks and experiences grew 6% and 11%, respectively, to $6.92 billion and $1.6 billion, while consumer products sales inclined 3% to $974 million.
Attendance at domestic parks ticked down 1% on a sequential basis, "reflecting, in part, continued softness in international visitation," according to D'Amaro and Johnston.
The company is beginning to lap attendance headwinds faced in domestic parks over the past year, the executives noted. "While we acknowledge the potential impact of heightened global macro uncertainty on consumers, we are encouraged by current demand and expect year-over-year attendance at our domestic parks in (the third quarter) to show improvement compared to (second-quarter) results," they added.
Disney's sports division ticked up to $4.61 billion from $4.53 billion in the prior-year quarter. For the ongoing three-month period, the company expects the segment's operating income to decline by about 14% on an annual basis. The metric was down 5% in the second quarter.