Opinions Greg Dean
Walt Disney Co.DISCOMMENTAug 02, 2016
Greg DeanStock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 04, 2026. Market Open.
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Has become the victim of a sort of new wokeism, which alienated a big chunk of consumers. He sold. Challenge is the franchise is one of a kind, but management keeps making mistakes.
Inexpensive here, if you have a long horizon. Reasonable value, but no immediate catalyst. Business is good, it just needs to find the next CEO with the right vision; when they get that right, the stock will move.
It's a good company, doing the right things. People still want to go their theme parks and cruise ships. Their streamer is doing a good job, taking the baton from linear TV. The stock looks like 2021 during the pandemic. Revenues and EPS are growing above 10% in each of the next two years, is trading at 14x PE and a dividend growing like crazy. But not it's uncomfortable to hold this stock, but you will be rewarded if you are patient.
He bought more on this AI sell-off. How will AI disrupt/replace their theme parks? With this sell-off, you can buy great companies at great prices which seldom happens.
Jim Lebenthal
You have to appreciate its brand power. Does something that no one else in the world can or does, and they do it very well. Lots of avid fans.
That said, not sure its valuation is merited. Cost of running theme parks is very high, and probably getting higher. In an economic slowdown, people may not pay those prices. Media assets are in constant competition. He's a value investor. Wait for a pullback.
It's been consolidating and has to outperform earnings to break out which he expects, given strong theme parts and streaming. It's neither cheap or pricey at 20x PE.
Jim LebenthalStreaming turned profitable by end of 2024, finally, after a reorganization, and is now a major growth driver. Theme parks have been the largest profit generator and they keep coming out with new parks; people are paying high amounts to enjoy them. He expects healthy earnings to come. They will announce a deal between their ESPN and the NFL--sports drives huge profits. Everything is going right, but they need to appoint a successor to Bob Iger.
Lorne SteinbergMixed feelings. On the positive side, doing exceptionally well in streaming with a great library and great branding. Cross-sells better than anyone. Worried about the parks in the short term -- consumer slowdown, expecting global backlash against the US. Hard to bet against its 6-decade growth story for the long term. Balance sheet in fine shape, decent cashflow. Yield is 0.8%.
The Golden ticket within this company is ESPN. We have seen the peak of franchise values, and a lot of that has to do with cord cutters. The recent franchises are able to be as valuable as they are today, has predominantly been driven by TV money, and TV money has been coming from the $6-$7 a month that ESPN subs are kicking up to Disney. When you share half your revenues with your players, and wage inflation is going to be somewhat sticky, so Disney is on the hook to write these bigger checks to keep the ESPN franchise growing, but their attrition from customers is increasing. People are finding other ways to watch sports. He worries that the engine that has fuelled business growth over the past 10 years, won’t be there over the next 10.