Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

Short. Disney is doing great. There is a seasonal period where it pulls off from July to Dec. Loses 9% on average. Go long later on.

Sold his holdings on a valuation basis when it got up to north of 19X earnings. Great company. He would consider getting back in if it got back to 15-16 times earnings.

A stock that has performed very, very well over the last 5 years. Recently had a bit of a setback but the market has also come back so wouldn’t read too much into this. A very high quality company. There is more and more value being put on content and this is one of the leaders in content. A good blue-chip stock to own.

A wonderful company. Generating lots of free cash flow. Doing all the right things. Had a huge hit with their movie Frozen and this is now going to be huge franchise. This is a core holding for anybody’s portfolio.

Thinks the stock is suffering from momentum anxiety from last year. It was a fantastic performing media stock last year. Likes this long-term. Have amazing creative talent. If you look at where all of these platforms are going, they are all looking to build on creative product. What is hurting cable companies, content companies, and a number of these companies is that no one is sure what 2 years looks like, who has control or who has the lever in terms of negotiations. Very good company long-term. Thinks you will be rewarded over the next couple of years.

(A Top Pick March 13/13. Up 42.16%.) Had reached his valuation point of around 21X earnings and growing at 12%-13%. Thinks it is now fully valued and if you own, he would recommend you switch out of this and into Time Warner (TWX-N) where you will get every bit the same growth and the same media space. You get this for about 6 valuation points cheaper.

2 near-term catalysts are Shanghai Disney opening soon and the coming Star Wars franchise. Also, have the Marvel franchise. They have everything working for them. People tend to look at the Academy Awards, but the ones that really make the money are often the animations.

Owned for a while. We are in a market where the consumer sector in general is one of the leading 5. Leisure and media are strong. The distribution of media content is exploding through all different channels. Those that own the content are garnering tremendous value for that content. DIS creates remarkable content. The Star Wars franchise was acquired. Travel in developed countries because of theme parks. A pure play on the consumer.

A really good quarter announced last week. Cable assets are getting lot of operating leverage. A huge hit. He had an opportunity to buy before the end of the quarter and he missed it. You want to get it while it is cheap. Prefers Viacom (VIA-Q).

Probably has a good 5-7% upside into the summer months. There might be better things to trade and he does not like buying stocks when they make all time highs.

He would buy this and would buy it very quickly. There is a lot coming out. They don’t have anything big coming out in 2014 but there is a build out of some more Marvel and Star Wars and that franchise is still coming out. The real beauty is there ESPN business. This is one of the places where advertisers will still flock.

Likes media companies and they form a good core in your portfolio. His favourite is Viacom (VIA-Q). Disney has been a powerhouse. There are so many platforms vying for content and Disney has it. He would like this to pull back to 15 or 16 times earnings before becoming really interested in it.

(A Top Pick Feb 12/13. Up 30.9%.) ESPN cable network is there crown jewel which has re-signed a lot of their long-term contracts for higher affiliate fees. Liked their Lucas Films acquisition. Their Shanghai theme Park is going to be opening in 2015. They are getting good traffic growth and spend in the US parks.

Very bullish on this. For the long-term, the demographics are right and their international expansions are right. Like any movie company they will go through periods of ups and downs depending on just how big a hit one or more of their releases turn out to be. Would like to see it come back 5%-10%.

(A Top Pick March 13/13.) Sold his holdings on Nov 27/13 at $71 based on valuations. Felt that valuations were stretched given growth metrics.