Media & Entertainment

On May 20, The Walt Disney Company announced that Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War was set to surpass $1 billion in earnings at the global box office.

Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service could be forced to ensure that 20% of their content catalogs consist of European content.

The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) theme parks and resorts business is doing extremely well in the United States.

The merger of Charter Communications (CHTR), Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Bright House Networks was completed on May 18, 2016.

Comcast is increasingly focusing on its Business Services segment, which has three growth engines: small business, mid-sized business, and enterprise.

We prefer EV-to-EBITDA and PCF over the other multiples when comparing valuation of media conglomerates with different structures.

Last month, Apple (AAPL) declared its fiscal 1Q16 results, reporting revenues of $75.9 billion. Revenues rose 2% YoY (year-over-year) and 8% on a constant currency basis.

Time Warner’s (TWX) Warner Bros. had revenues of $13 billion in fiscal 2015, up by 4% year-over-year. However, Warner Bros. had a 13% year-over-year decrease in revenues in fiscal 4Q15.

Electronic Arts (EA) generated investor returns of 17.8% in the trailing 12 months and -6.6% in the trailing one month

Out of 43 analysts covering Yahoo, 26 have “buy” recommendations, none have “sell” recommendations, and 17 have “hold” recommendations on the stock.

With improved consumer sentiment, there may be greater consumer spending in the economy, which may translate into faster economic growth.

By offering different products like triple-play services, Comcast is catering to millennials, who want different content and can be heavy video viewers.

Comcast (CMCSA) has two primary business segments, Cable Communications and NBCUniversal.

The advertising revenues for Comcast’s NBCUniversal Cable Networks and Broadcasting Television segment are susceptible to advertising cyclicality and program ratings.

Disney considers itself a creative content company, and creative excellence is the key to its success. It expects to continue to invest both organically and inorganically.

Netflix considers Japan to be a brand-sensitive market. Once it establishes its brand, it expects its connection with the Japanese audience to be long term.

Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said at an industry conference in Cannes, France, that Hulu was not looking to expand into international markets any time soon.

Currently, Hulu’s free service is ad-supported while its $7.99-per-month service provides content with fewer ads.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a three-year-old game, witnessed engagement growth on a quarter-over-quarter basis to nearly 12 million monthly active users in 3Q15.

Disney’s (DIS) Media Networks segment was the biggest contributor to its revenue, at 44% or $52.5 billion, in fiscal 2015.

Time Warner announced its 3Q15 results on November 4, 2015. Warner Bros. was a major contributor to the revenue of Time Warner in 3Q15, accounting for 47%.

Verizon launched its Custom TV service in April. A skinny bundle service, it gives more choices to customers, allowing them to select their TV channels

Disney is incurring significant pre-opening expenses for Shanghai Disneyland (FXI), which will be unveiled in spring next year.

The Walt Disney Company’s (DIS) advertising revenues made up 37% of its Media Networks segment’s total revenues of $5.7 billion in fiscal 3Q15.

ESPN is a part of Disney’s Media Networks segment. Affiliate fees are major component of this segment and are under pressure due to subscriber loss.

Hulu is planning to launch an ad-free service priced at $12–$14 per month later this year. Hulu is also looking at programmatic ad buying to better monetize its content.

Since the merger, AT&T has extended bundled video and wireless offerings, such as its All in One Plan, which is being offered to DIRECTV and AT&T customers.

Instagram reported its click-through rate of 1.50% for the month of August to date. This is almost double Facebook’s rate. Instagram clearly has the potential to churn out big money for Facebook.

Informed investors can profit from businesses that have filed for bankruptcy. A chapter 11 bankruptcy gives a company a second chance to revive its business.

Netflix pricing is the lowest among all video streaming service players. Its basic plan of $7.99 is propelling the company’s streaming membership growth in the United States.

On June 29, Disney announced it will merge two of its stand-alone segments into one. Disney Consumer Products and Disney Interactive will become Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media.

Disney’s Studio Entertainment segment had revenues of $1.7 billion in 2Q15, down 6% from 2Q14. The segment had operating income of $0.4 billion, a 10% fall from 2Q14.

In May 2012, Facebook’s stock price was $38, and its PE ratio was 80.0 x. The ratio reached an all-time high of 7,930x, when net income dropped to $53 million that year.

New Charter is the proposed merged entity. The company will include networks of some of the largest cable operators in the US.

At a May 13 MoffettNathanson event, Walt Disney’s (DIS) senior vice president of investor relations, Lowell Singer, discussed the company’s acquisitions.

In the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit on May 13, the company highlighted its intellectual properties portfolio.

An integrated business model helps Walt Disney (DIS) utilize value created by its intellectual properties such as Frozen across its different segments.

Not all deals are cash deals, however. Often companies will issue stock in lieu of giving cash for a deal. This adds a layer of complication to the process and also some risk factors we need to consider.

Other important merger spreads include the deal between Time Warner Cable and Comcast as well as the merger between Pharmacyclics and AbbVie.

Along with its move toward the digital space, console upgrades are the reason Electronic Arts stock returned 66% to shareholders in 2013 and 105% in 2014.