Disney to Nearly Double Investment in Its Parks Business. The Stock Is Falling.

Disney was the worst performer in the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and one of the leading decliners in the
S&P 500
on Tuesday, falling 3.1% to $82.43. The stock has dropped 5.1% so far in 2023.

Disney pointed Barron’s to management comments in a blog post Tuesday.

“We’re incredibly mindful of the financial underpinning of the company, the need to continue to grow in terms of bottom line, the need to invest wisely so that we’re increasing the returns on invested capital, and the need to maintain a balance sheet, for a variety of reasons,” Chief Executive Bob Iger said in the post.

“The company is able to absorb those costs and continue to grow the bottom line and look expansively at how we return value and capital to our shareholders,” Iger added.

The media and entertainment company’s DPEP segment generated revenue of $28.7 billion in 2022, up from the prepandemic revenue of $26.8 billion in 2019. The segment’s revenue over the last 12 months was $32.3 billion, Disney said Tuesday.

Disney sees significant room for land and sea expansion, the company said Tuesday. Disney Parks alone has more than 1,000 acres of land available for possible development. For its cruises, the plans to nearly double the worldwide capacity of its line, adding two ships in fiscal year 2025 and another in 2026.

This decision comes as the company’s media segment is in focus, amid a dispute with cable company
Charter Communications
(CHTR) about pricing. Disney also recently said it was open to considering a variety of strategic options for its linear television business.

Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]