Disney Reports Strong Earnings but Warns of Bumps Ahead

Disney reported strong earnings on Tuesday, driven in part by a surprise profit at its flagship streaming service — a first. But investors responded nervously to a coming slowdown at Disney theme parks, which have recently been the company’s primary growth engine.

Disney shares fell more than 9 percent, to about $105, by the close of trading.

Revenue at Disney Experiences, a division that includes theme parks and cruise ships, totaled $8.4 billion, a 10 percent year-on-year increase. Operating income totaled $2.3 billion, up 12 percent. Wall Street, however, had hoped for stronger profit margins. In addition, Disney said higher wages, expenses tied to the arrival of two new cruise liners and — crucially — a general slowdown in travel would negatively affect the coming quarter.

“We are seeing some evidence of a global moderation from peak post-Covid travel,” Hugh Johnston, the chief financial officer of Disney, said on a conference call with analysts.

Disney+ had been expected to lose more than $100 million in the most recent quarter, widening losses since its 2019 arrival to roughly $12 billion. Instead, it swung to a $47 million profit, in part by adding 6.3 million subscriptions worldwide (excluding India), to bring its total to 117.6 million. Average revenue per paid subscriber climbed 6 percent, to $7.28.

Investors, however, did not like what Mr. Johnston had to say about streaming in the coming quarter — namely that Disney+ was not expected to add subscribers and that it would again lose money, a result of programming expenses at Disney+ Hotstar, a low-price streaming service in India.

Subscriptions to Hulu, which Disney also owns, were largely flat (50 million), while the company’s sports-oriented streaming service, ESPN+, shed a few hundred thousand subscriptions to end the quarter with 24.8 million. Together, Disney’s three streaming services lost $18 million, an improvement from $659 million a year earlier.