Disney Earned HOW Much in 2022???
The Walt Disney Company just reported its financial earnings for the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the process, the company revealed how much it earned in calendar 2022.
We’ve got some good news and some bad news to discuss. So, let’s examine Disney’s quarterly and annual revenue.
Disney By the Numbers
I’ve said many times that I dislike how Wall Street evaluates numbers. Analysts project revenue and earnings per share.
Then, these so-called experts deem companies lacking when the numbers fall short of what outsiders expect.
Realistically, the only people who should know how Disney performs work in Disney’s c-suite. Everyone else is just guessing.
Obviously, I’m saying this because Disney didn’t meet Wall Street’s projections. Overall, Disney managed earnings per share of $0.30.
In a vacuum, that’s solid, but it’s barely half of Wall Street’s estimated $0.55.
Similarly, Disney reported quarterly revenue of $20.15 billion. Somehow, that’s less than what Wall Street had expected, which was $21.24 billion.
So, you’ll hear a lot about how Disney underachieved. But the numbers don’t really bear out that conclusion.
We can tell this by evaluating the big portion stuff. For the quarter, Disney’s revenue increased by a healthy nine percent.
Compared to fiscal 2021, Disney improved by a massive 23 percent.
While Disney’s stock price dropped 7 percent in a matter of minutes after the announcement, CEO Bob Chapek took a victory lap:
“2022 was a strong year for Disney, with some of our best storytelling yet, record results at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment, and outstanding subscriber growth at our direct-to-consumer services, which added nearly 57 million subscriptions this year for a total of more than 235 million.”
While Chapek didn’t make the point on his own, Disney’s fiscal 2022 numbers demonstrated exceptional growth.
During fiscal 2021, Disney managed $67.2 billion, which was a remarkable feat, all things considered.
For the past 12 months, Disney earned $82.7 billion, a massive increase. So, Disney has irrefutably come out of the pandemic in better shape as a business.
Disney’s Core Businesses under the Microscope
As usual, we should focus on Disney’s core businesses to evaluate how the company did overall.
At this point, Chapek has divided Disney into two segments. One is the physical products like merchandise and the parks division.
The other consists of digital services and products plus creative endeavors. Disney’s listings still include several different businesses, though.
The most significant one for the long term is Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED).
That division shrunk three percent from the previous fiscal quarter. However, it still managed $12.725 billion in revenue.
For the fiscal year, the news was wildly positive. DMED grew eight percent to $55 billion in revenue. Overall, that was Disney’s bread and butter.
As Disney fans, we care more about the parks. For the fiscal quarter, the parks increased by nearly $1 billion, which is jaw-dropping growth.
For the year, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products grossed $28.7 billion. That’s a 73 percent increase from fiscal 2021.
Obviously, having the parks mostly operational throughout 2022 helped.
Still, I expect additional growth in fiscal 2023. Several parks weren’t fully operational for the entire 2022 campaign.
Oddly, Disney’s operating income for these two divisions was roughly the same as last quarter. Park income more than doubled, but DMED lost 91 percent.
Again, the fiscal year tells a different story, though. Operating income for 2022 reached $12.121 billion. That’s more than four billion better than in 2021.
So, the Disney empire is netting about $3 billion per quarter, which is $1 billion more than this time last year!
Other Core Businesses
Linear television isn’t likely to die for decades, but it’s definitely in its death rattle. You can think of the situation like AOL, which somehow still claims 1.5 million monthly subscribers.
Still, Disney’s Linear Networks division is in decline. Revenue dropped five percent for the quarter and stood at $6.335 billion.
More alarmingly, the fiscal 2022 take of $28.346 billion represents only one percent growth from last year. This segment is likely on a downward trajectory from here.
Meanwhile, Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) is trending the right way. Disney’s streaming services earned $4.907 billion for the quarter, which is up eight percent.
For fiscal 2022, DTC revenue reached $19.558 billion, an exemplary 20 percent increase from last year. Disney’s commitment as a digital company is paying dividends.
Overall, Disney claims a clear growth trend, which I can demonstrate with these bullet points.
Here are Disney’s fiscal revenue totals for the past five years:
- 2018 — $59.434 billion
- 2019 — $69.607 billion
- 2020 — $65.388 billion
- 2021 — $67.418 billion
- 2022 — $83.745 billion
There’s a clear trend here, and it strongly points to sunny days ahead for Disney!