Disney (DIS) Q1 2021 results

Disney reported strong growth in paid streaming subscribers and its first quarterly profit since the start of last year in its earnings report for its fiscal first quarter of 2021 after the bell on Thursday.

The stock was up about 1.7% after hours.

Here are the key figures:

• Earnings per share: 32 cents adjusted against expected loss of 41 cents, according to Refinitiv
• Returned: $ 16.25 billion vs. $ 15.9 billion expected, according to Refinitiv

Here’s how the rest of the report played out for Disney.

Disney said it now had nearly 95 million paid subscribers to its Disney + streaming service in the quarter ended Jan. 2. This comes in the first quarter after the end of Disney’s free trial period for some subscribers who are also Verizon customers.

Disney chief financial officer Christine McCarthy told analysts during the company’s earnings call that executives were “really happy with the conversion numbers we’ve seen since the promotion to paying subscribers.”

Average monthly revenue per paying Disney + subscriber, however, fell 28% from the same quarter last year, from $ 5.56 to $ 4.03. Indeed, that number now includes subscribers to Disney + Hotstar, which launched in India and Indonesia last year. The service generates lower average monthly revenue per paying subscriber than traditional Disney + in other markets, driving down the overall average for the quarter.

During Disney’s earnings call, McCarthy said that excluding Hotstar, the average revenue per paying Disney + subscriber would have been $ 5.37 in the quarter.

Average monthly revenue per paid subscriber increased slightly for Disney’s other direct-to-consumer platforms, ESPN +, and Hulu, with the latter seeing growth of 26% for those using its live TV service.

The company said it now had more than 146 million total paying subscribers through its streaming services at the end of the first quarter.

Revenue from Disney’s direct-to-consumer business increased 73% from the same quarter a year earlier, to $ 3.5 billion. This growth helped offset losses in other segments affected by the pandemic.

Revenue for Disney’s parks, experiences and products segment fell 53% to $ 3.58 billion as many of its theme parks were closed or operated at reduced capacity and its cruise ships and guided tours have been suspended.

CEO Bob Chapek told analysts during the company’s earnings call that the outlook for revenue and park reopening “is really going to be determined by the vaccination rate of the public.” Disneyland hosts a vaccination site for Californians, and Chapek said the site has so far delivered more than 100,000 doses.

Chapek said he expects any reopening or increase in visitor capacity to include masking and social distancing measures until the end of the year. But he said Dr Anthony Fauci’s prediction earlier Thursday that the vaccine would start to be available to anyone who wanted one in April would be a game-changer.

The company said the Covid-19 outbreak cost that division about $ 2.6 billion in lost operating income in the first fiscal quarter.

Content sales and licensing revenues fell 56% to $ 1.7 billion in the quarter as Disney had no new theatrical releases in October, November and December and releases limited home entertainment.

Notably, last year the studio released “Frozen II” in theaters and launched “Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” in the home video market.

Disney expects capital spending for fiscal 2021 to be similar to 2020, with the company investing more in the media and entertainment segment and less in the parks segment.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC.

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained erroneous remarks by Christine McCarthy, the company’s chief financial officer, regarding Disney’s plans to disclose future Disney + subscriber numbers. The company actually plans to provide subscriber number updates at the end of each quarter. It may not provide additional updates on subscriber numbers from the dates of the revenue calls.

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