The Walt Disney Company’s DIS first-quarter fiscal 2022 results, set to be reported on Feb 9, are expected to have benefited from revival in Parks, Experiences and Products businesses.

Markedly, Disney’s nearest peer, Comcast CMCSA, reported strong fourth-quarter results in its Theme Park business. The company reported its most profitable fourth quarter on record, with demand being especially high in Orlando, FL.

Comcast generated Theme Park revenues of $1.9 billion, up by $1.2 billion and EBITDA of $674 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Parks, Experiences & Consumer Products revenues is currently pegged at $6.24 billion, indicating growth of 74% year over year.
 

The consensus mark for Parks, Experiences & Consumer Products operating income is pegged at $1.27 billion against the year-ago quarter’s reported operating loss of $119 million.

Click here to know how Disney’s overall first-quarter fiscal 2022 results are likely to be.

Disney+ User Growth: Momentum Likely to Have Stalled in Q1

Disney expects Disney+ net additions to be higher in the second half of fiscal 2022 compared with the first.

Despite the availability of popular movies like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Home Sweet Home Alone and Jungle Cruise, besides documentaries, Disney+ subscriber growth is expected to have stalled in the to-be-reported quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Disney+’s first-quarter paid subscribers are pegged at 124.7 million, indicating 31.3% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. However, the growth rate is much slower than 60% reported by Disney in the fourth-quarter of 2021. As of Oct 2, 2021, Disney+ had 118.1 million paid subscribers.

The sluggish growth can be attributed to increased competition in the streaming space. Netflix NFLX continues to dominate the space in this regard despite missing its user-base target in the recently concluded fourth-quarter 2021.

Netflix added 8.28 million paid subscribers globally in the quarter against the addition of 8.51 million in the year-ago quarter, missing its guidance of 8.5 million paid-subscriber additions.

Moreover, growing popularity of services like Comcast’s Peacock and ViacomCBS’ VIAC Paramount+ has been a major concern.

Comcast’s Peacock had 24.5 million monthly active accounts in the United States at the end 2021.

ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ has been witnessing new subscriber growth, driven by an expanding content portfolio. Paramount+ hosts a portfolio of more than 2,500 movies and 30,000 TV episodes, including content on popular franchises such as Star Trek and SpongeBob.

However, Disney+’s availability in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong is expected to have benefited user growth.

DTC revenues are expected to have suffered from the slowing adoption of Disney+. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTC revenues stands at $4.74 billion, suggesting growth of only 4% from the figure reported in the previous quarter.

Content Sales/Licensing segment revenues are likely to have benefited from the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this segment’s revenues stands at $2.42 billion, suggesting growth of 18.4% from the figure reported in the previous quarter.

Moreover, improvement in ad demand and spending is expected to have benefited Disney-division ESPN’s ad-sales business.

The consensus estimates for advertising revenues – broadcasting and advertising revenues - cable is currently pegged at $952 million and $1.24 billion, respectively.

Disney currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
ViacomCBS Inc. (VIAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.