Parks, streaming, and ecosystem drive Disney.
Disney's theme parks remain the crown jewel with profits up 20%, allaying slowdown fears seen at Comcast's Universal parks. Streaming is the growth catalyst, with second straight quarter of better-than-expected profitability and more growth levers ahead. New CEO Josh Tomorrow is taking strategic actions: selling stakes, deploying cash to buybacks, TikTok deal, and positioning Disney+ as a major hub akin to Amazon Prime for the Disney ecosystem. Disney's unique combination of parks, movies, and ESPN sports rights creates a powerful engagement differentiator versus peers.
Paramount burdened by dilution and leverage.
Paramount faces a very discouraging investment outlook. The Warner Bros. Discovery merger is delayed, triggering $1.3 billion in ticking fees to be funded by share issuance. Leverage will be about 6.5x at close and massive dilution is expected—shares outstanding could balloon from 1 billion to almost 5 billion. The overall picture is not encouraging for investors.