Monday, December 22, 2014

Walt Disney: The Parks & Resorts Segment Can Boost Revenue

Walt Disney a Media and Entertainment company that generates revenue from four main segments pertaining to media, entertainment and retail sector. Parks and Resorts segment for the company provides the major contribution to the consolidated revenue that is recorded to over 30%, with highest contribution provided by Media Networks. In the past the theme park industry underwent a chaotic season due to the global recession having a terrible impact on the industry as traffic reduced to such entertainment theme parks.

As the global recession rebounds, market analyst anticipates the revenue for the themes and amusement parks to grow in next 5 years. Various companies are now focusing on new attraction to entice more traffic to the park and boost the revenue. Walt Disney (DIS) is one such global leader that has been constantly adding new features to it various theme parks in an effort to redefine the entertainment experience at its various Themes and Amusement parks.

Quarter overview

The company recently released its third quarter results, and if observed closely all the revenue generation segments of the company recorded growth. The consolidated revenue was up by 8% year over year, to records $12,466 million as compared to $11,578 in the same terms last year.

Segmental Revenue

Segment

Revenue (Q3-2014)

Revenue (Q3-2013)

Contribution In Total Revenue

Growth

1

Media Networks

5,511

5,352

44.2%

3%

2

Parks & Resorts

3,980

3,678

31.9%

8%

3

Studio Entertainment

1,807

1,590

14.5

14%

4

Consumer Products

902

775

7.3%

16%

5

Interactive

266

183

1.5%

45%

Media network remained flat in terms of growth although it has major contribution to the consolidated revenue. Parks and resort segment which contributed around 32% to the consolidated revenue witnessed a growth mainly due to the higher traffic and increased spending budget of the visitor to the park. Growth in the Studio Entertainment segment was leveraged by increase in international distribution and the performance of Frozen, Captain America2 as compared to the theatrical distributions in the same quarter in the previous year. Higher comparable store sales were witnessed in the consumer product segments that influenced the 16% year over year growth. The interactive segment witnessed a growth due to strong demand for the game Disney Infinity.

New travel packages with Disney

At the start of the year 2015, Double Bucket List itinerary will be added to the adventure travelers list for an amazing experience in Amazon region. This package provides trip to the Amazon flooded with various adventures for the travelers. Families opting for this package will be taken to various adventure track of the Ecuadorian Amazon and will also explore the world famous Galapagos Islands. The company is all excited about this new package as it believes this to be the most adventures travel package announced as on date.

Furthermore, Disney also plans to launch new packages for traveler opting for long weekend trips. New itinerary is added for mini vacations, that includes New York City, San Francisco and Napa. The four days prolonged weekend trip will provide travelers to explore America's more preferred locations. These travel packages will be generally preferred by families and friends looking to take a short break from a regular hectic life.

More features in the Amusement parks

Animal Kingdom is one of the most preferred destinations in the Disney world, mainly by kids. It provides a connection between the nature and the living being for a great new experience for the travelers. Themes at the Animal kingdom are created from various block buster films to provide a real time experience to traveler based on the virtual world. At the start of this year, Disney had announced to add new features to its Animal Kingdom based on the block buster film "Avatar". The main feature added will be the ride on a Banshee. This feature is anticipated to provide a totally new experience to the travelers. The Pandora is estimated to be unveiled in 2017.

"One of the things guests tell us they love the most about our parks is their ability to step into amazing worlds that otherwise only exist in our imaginations or on films," Staggs said. He said, "Pandora is one of the most elaborate and captivating worlds ever caught on film. It celebrates the connections between nature and living things."

The company also plans to launch various new attractions at EPCOT. This attraction will be based on the hit movie "Frozen". The company expects this to be open for public in the year 2016. The fans of Frozen are eagerly waiting for this launch and will certainly provide a growth to the top line of the company in future.

Conclusion

As the global population continues grow and it has a directed impact on the travel and the entertainment industry. The budget allocated for travel expense has also witnessed growth with favorable economies that has led to increase in the market size of the travel and the entertainment industry. Keeping the growth pattern of the travel and the entertainment industry, Disney is more focused with its travel packages and features addition in the amusement park to attract more traffic which adds on to the revenue of the company. I feel, in the coming years, Disney is all set to achieve new heights and the stocks of this company can also soar benefiting the investors. As an investor, I would, certain try to include this stock in my portfolio considering the brand name Disney and it future growth plans.

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