Disney Results Boosted by Star Wars, Zootopia

By Tess Stynes 

Walt Disney Co. said its earnings rose 1.7% in the latest quarter as the media conglomerate benefited from the continued popularity of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and a strong performance by the animated animal comedy "Zootopia."

However, shares of the Burbank, Calif., company fell 5.9% to $100.20 in recent after-hours trading as per-share earnings, excluding certain one-time items, and revenue missed expectations. Through Tuesday's close, the stock has risen roughly 20% over the past three months.

Investors have remained focused on subscriber trends at the company's ESPN sports network and the effect of "cord-cutting" and "skinny bundles" on Disney's television business.

Earlier on Tuesday, ESPN and Verizon Communications Inc. said they settled a yearlong legal dispute over how the sports network is distributed by the phone giant's Fios unit. ESPN has been left out of several channel packages over the years, but in February, Verizon revamped its base packages to include one with sports channels like ESPN and one without.

A likely topic on the earnings conference call will be Disney's CEO succession plans in the wake of Tom Staggs -- once viewed as the heir apparent to Chief Executive Robert Iger, stepping down from the No. 2 executive post.

For the period ended April 2, Disney reported a profit of $2.14 billion, or $1.30 a share, up from $2.11 billion, or $1.23 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 4.1% to $12.97 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $1.40 and revenue of $13.19 billion.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2016 16:41 ET (20:41 GMT)

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