Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

(Past Top Pick Oct. 20. 2017, Up 16%) ESPN numbers have stopped falling; they're doing their own streaming with 1 million subscribers already in the first five months. It's cannibalizing the cable which was going to go anyway. They own Hulu, also good. Theme parks are fine. It's relatively cheap. He targets $125.

16x PE, but there won't be much growth in the next few years as cable TV loses subscribers and Disney moves into the streaming business. They have a great catalogue and just bought the Fox catalogue. There are costs they're absorbing in this transition period. Have a long-term view with Disney.

Excited about it, despite cord-cutting trends which Disney has survived. Their takeover of 20th Century Fox positions them very well to better broadcast their content (has a huge library now) to, say, India and Europe. Fantastic CEO. He's a long-term holder of Disney, despite the slump of recent years.

People are watching content online through streaming. They will compete with Netflix. They also have theme parks, cruise ships and movies, all moving in the right direction. (1.5% dividend, Analysts' price target: $120.00)

He sees it as being a little rich now. Would not be buying in at these levels. If the economy starts to slow in the US, could put pressure on this stock. He would wait for a 10% pull back before entry.

They recently introduced ESPN’s direct streaming. Back half of 2019 they are going to launch their Disney Direct consumer products. She likes it.

There are many deals in the works, nothing has closed and there is regulatory risk. These potential deals are risky reasons to invest in Disney. However, looking at Disney itself, this is the best monetization machine in the industry. For example, when they bought LucasFilm, they turned Star Wars into film, theme parks, TV shows, and consumer products. They’re also working on streaming, but there are risks with this. Aside from the sports franchise, they’re doing everything right. And the sports-related issues are well known by investors. The price consolidated for a while. It’s been rising again, but not too much. Disney is a discipline acquirer, so if the deals do come through, they will be good. However, he can’t buy the company at this time because media, as a group, is not showing market leadership. He will wait until the industry that includes Disney starts to perform better. Much of the recent rally in media is M&A premium, which is not a good basis for a long-term investment.

Trades at 14 times earnings and has a nice dividend yield. The big story here is the Fox deal that Comcast has pulled out of. A tough business now with Netflix Inc. (NFLX-Q) trying to be a monopoly.

He bought Disney on the news of the 20th Century Fox merger. They were making money from traditional broadcasting and ESPN, but were losing subscribers. The Fox merger counters that loss as Disney moves into the streaming business, and they could be competing with Netflix now.

(Past Top Pick, June 13, 2017, Up 2%) The ESPN deal is holding the stock back. He loves their theme park business and their movies are killing it, like the Avengers. But the stock is in limbo with the potential Fox acquisition. 15x earnings is a great valuation. This is a screaming buy.

He likes this long-term. He took profits last fall. Their parks and studios are doing well, but ESPN is a worry with a lot of cord-cutting. That's why the stock has been stock the last few years. Disney is trying to acquire 21st Fox as a response. They had to do this, had to get into streaming. Can they execute well to go against Netflix?

(Past Top Pick, July 4, 2017, Down 1%) They have a high bid for 21st Century Fox and the rumour is they will get it. The biggest worries are ESPN and cable-cutting. So, the Fox purchase would solve many problems: it would make Disney bigger and ESPN smaller. Disney wants to be streaming content and not broadcasting. If Disney wins the right assets, meaning Fox, this will hit $125 in 2019.

(A Top Pick June 15/17, Down 0.4%) Market is focusing on ESPN losing subscribers. Have introduced their own direct-to-consumer product, so they can pull Netflix content and go directly to the consumer. Other divisions are doing incredibly well -- theme park, movies. Attractive at 14x forward earnings. Expecting earnings growth to come through next year. Lots of confidence in the CEO, having bought Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.

It's been a yo-yo ride. A good stock with decent value. Their content is solid and the company has opportunities for expansion. The current stock price is decent. It's unlikely it'll return to recent highs though given we're late in the cycle.

Owned it for a while. For the next year he doesn’t have a clue. A fantastic franchise. May be frustrating in the short term. It hasn’t trade at this low for years. You can own this for the next 20 years and make 12-15%. Earnings keep going up.