A number of companies have seen their stock prices soar as demand for their services or products increased due to people staying at home.Both companies are set to report second quarter earnings in the next few weeks and both companies are expected to show significant increases in earnings per share when compared to the previous year.
Netflix is expected to report earnings results on July 16.
The analyst affirmed buy rating on the stock.
According to the Goldman analysts expectations, Netflix will report an addition of at least a net 12.5 million subscribers (vs. consensus estimates of 8.2 million) in the quarter."While management is likely to guide the third quarter conservatively given the first-half outperformance and the massive uncertainty in the current environment, we believe consensus estimates for the second half and beyond remain too low," Goldman analyst Heath Terry wrote.
For the full year, Goldman projects Netflix to report paid subscriber net additions of 45.6 million (vs. the FactSet consensus estimate of 35.8 million).
According to Tickeron, NFLX's price moved above its 50-day Moving Average on June 15, 2020
This price move indicates a change in the trend, and may be a buy signal for investors.
Walt Disney World will begin reopening of Disney Springs in a phased manner, amid safety measures that companies are trying to maintain against the covid pandemic.
Disney Springs, a restaurant and entertainment area, will reopen on May 20.
“Disney Springs will begin to reopen in a way that incorporates enhanced safety measures, including increased cleaning procedures, the use of appropriate face coverings by both cast members and guests, limited-contact guest services and additional safety training for cast members," said Matt Simon, vice president for Disney Springs, on the official Disney Parks Blog.
However, Disney’s theme parks and hotels will remain closed.
Earlier this week, the entertainment giant announced that it would reopen Shanghai Disneyland on May 11, but attendance would be limited to less than 30% of the 88,000 guests per day it has capacity for normally.
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ViacomCBS beat the Street's first-quarter earnings expectations, in its its first report for a full quarter of the Viacom and CBS merger.
The media behemoth’s adjusted earnings came in at $1.13 a share for the quarter, which surpassed analysts’ estimate of 95 cents a share.
Revenue fell -6% year-over-year to $6.67 billion, but exceeded Wall Street's expectation of $6.57 billion.
Sales from the advertising segment fell -19% year over year. The NCAA cancelled its championship basketball tournament this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, domestic streaming and digital video revenue, including streaming subscription and digital video advertising revenue, surged +51% from the prior year quarter to $471 million.
Also, film revenue grew +11%, on the back of licensing and home entertainment growth.
ViacomCBS said it has access to $3.5 billion revolving credit facility and other liquidity sources.
Walt Disney got an analyst downgrade MoffettNathanson analyst, on Covid-19 impact.
MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson lowered rating on the media/entertainment giant’s shares to neutral from buy, ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings.
Nathanson wrote that earnings revisions for the Disney could be “massively skewed to the downside” due to the coronavirus the pandemic, even as Disney+ continues to garner subscribers.
Nathanson also slashed his one-year price target to $112 from $120
The facility is apparently for general corporate purposes, as indicated in the filing.
Disney had earlier announced plans to furlough certain non-essential U.S. employees starting April 19.The company asked them to apply for the additional $600 a week of federal support as part of the U.S. government's $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
Gould also slashed his price target on the stock to $1 a share (from $4) – which represents 68% downside from the stock's Tuesday closing price.
In mid-March, AMC shut 1,000 of its theaters with some 11,000 screens , for six to 12 weeks.It recently told landlords that it will stop paying rent.
In April, The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that lenders to AMC had sought services of the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for advice on expected restructuring discussions.
Gould projected negative cash flow of -$285 million in the first half of the year for AMC, and indicated that the coronavirus crisis could lead to some liquidity issues at the company.
Walt Disney Co. is holding off releases of several upcoming movies, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Release dates of the entertainment behemoth’s movies will be moved to later dates this year and into 2021 and 2022 as well (according to a Variety report).
“Black Widow,” “Jungle Cruise,” “Bob’s Burger," “The Eternals,” “Mulan,” “The New Mutants,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, "Thor: Love and Thunder", and “Captain Marvel 2” are among the movies that got postponed for release.
The coronavirus situation has compelled movie theaters to shut down and film companies to halt production until the virus get contained.
Bob Chapek, the company's chief executive last month, will take a 50% pay cut .
Iger will forgo his salary starting in April, as the entertainment company deals with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a company email obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, Chapek's base salary as CEO is $2.5 million.Chapek was previously chairman of Disney’s parks, experiences and products segment.
Disney mentioned in its March 19 SEC filing, "There are certain limitations on our ability to mitigate the adverse financial impact of these items, including the fixed costs of our theme park business".
ViacomCBS has withdrawn its quarterly and full-year guidance amid COVID-19 crisis.
ViacomCBS said that production delays and cancellations of events have led it to hold off its previous 2020 guidance.
The media giant cited the postponement of theatrical releases domestically and internationally, cancellation or rescheduling of sports events, and production delays in television and filmed entertainment programming as factors that could have substantial effect on the company’s operating results, cash flows and financial position.
Cinemark Holdings is temporarily closing its 345 U.S. theaters, amid the spread of the coronavirus.
"The decision to close our U.S. theatres was incredibly tough, but we know it is the right thing to do as global coronavirus concerns continue to escalate" , Chief Executive Mark Zoradi said in a statement.
AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas are also closing their theaters, to combat COVID-19 risks.
Recently, a White House news conference advised Americans to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people.
On Friday, Walt Disney announced that it would temporarily close Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Paris Resort .
The premises would be closed beginning March 16 and through the end of the month.This follows Disney’s Thursday statement regarding temporary closure of the Disneyland Resort and the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, Calif., due to risks the coronavirus crisis.
"In an abundance of caution and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of our theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Paris Resort, beginning at the close of business on Sunday, March 15, through the end of the month," the entertainment giant said in Friday’s statement.
Netflix earned 24 nominations for the Oscars, becoming the first steaming service to get the most nominations for the prestigious movie awards.
Among Netflix’s original content, Martin Scorsese’s epic “The Irishman” scored 10 nominations, “Marriage Story” got six, “The Two Popes” garnered three, and animation feature “Klaus” was on the best animated feature ballot. The streaming platform also earned nominations for two documentary features called “American Factory” and “The Edge of Democracy”, and one documentary short titled “Life Overtakes Me”.
In early December, Netflix said that 26.4 million accounts viewed "The Irishman" within the first week, and that it expected 40 million to watch it in the first 28 days.
The figure is also lower than the year-ago quarter’s 30 cents a share.
Revenue increased +6.1% year-over-year to $299.4 million, beating Wall Street estimates of $296 million.Entertainment revenue was $174 million, exceeding estimates of $173 million.
CEO Brian Jenkins indicated that the company’s strong new store performance, progress in advancing near-term priorities, and sustainable shareholder value are some of the key strengths.
Looking ahead, Dave and Busters boosted the mid range of its full year 2019 adjusted EBITDA to $277.5 million for the year, up from a previous forecast of $277 million.
Netflix Inc. shares fell Tuesday, after analysts at Needham & Company lowered their rating on the stock.
Needham analyst Laura Martin cut her rating on the video streaming company’s shares to "underperform", from "hold".Martin indicated that heated competition in the online streaming industry could cause Netflix to lose as many as 4 million of its 60.6 million U.S. subscribers next year in its premium pricing tier of between $9 and $16 per month.
According to Martin, Netflix would likely have to offer lower-priced options, alongside its premium tier, in order to compete better with other streaming platforms like those from Walt Disney Co, Viacom, Comcast and Apple - all of which offer a net price bracket of between $5 and $7 per month.
The analyst maintained his buy rating on the stock.
On Tuesday, Disney said that its new streaming platform Disney+(launched this month) already garners close to 1 million new subscribers a day. The streaming platform includes content from Disney as well as Disney-owned properties like Marvel and the Star Wars franchise .
Gould expects 26 million subscribers for Disney+ in the first year, and said that the five-year target of 20-30 million domestic subscribers seems “quite conservative.
It also slashed its price target on the shares to $265 a share, from $308.
Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall suggested that Netflix could be incurring a steep cost in its fight for market share in the cut-throat video streaming industry.Netflix won't be able to generate positive earnings on a per subscriber basis until 2022, per Cahall's analysis.
Competition in the streaming business is getting only getting hotter.
Walt Disney got a price target hike from Bernstein, thanks to the subscriber numbers for Disney+.
Analysts at Bernstein raised their price target on the media behemoth's shares to $137 from $131.Bernstein analysts cited "astounding, no matter how many of them were promotional" subscriber numbers for Disney+, the media giant's newly launched video streaming service (according to Bloomberg).
Launched on Nov. 12, Disney+ already has 10 million subscribers, according to Walt Disney.
Following reports earlier this week that thousands of Disney+ users had their accounts hacked and placed on the dark web, the company came out with a statement saying that it takes the privacy and security of users' data very seriously and there is no indication of a security breach on Disney+.
Roku got a price target hike from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Analysts at the bank raised their price target on the video streaming platform’s shares to $160 from $150. Analyst Ziv Israel indicated that lower device average selling prices and new smart TV offerings imply a solid outsize growth for the fourth quarter.
Roku recently announced shopping deals including $30 discount on the Roku Smart Soundbar, which will then retail for $150 between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7; the Roku Streaming Stick+ to retail for $30 (after a $20 cut) between Nov. 24 and Dec. 2.; Roku Ultra, whose price will be slashed by half to $50 between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.
I have written about Chinese firm iQIYI (Nasdaq: IQ) before.Here it is a few months later and I am getting a bearish signal on the stock once again.
While the signal in July and the current signal are based on technical factors, they are backed by the poor fundamentals of the company. iQIYI went public on March 28, 2018 and it has yet to turn a profit—it has lost money in every single quarter.