Disney's Q3 revenue rose 44.5 percent as its U.S. theme parks returned to profit

Disney reported a stellar fiscal third quarter, beating Wall Street expectations for subscriber growth, revenue and profit.

Revenue rose 44.5% year over year to $17.02 billion, versus expectations of $16.76 billion. Adjusted earnings per share of {文章内容}.80 versus market expectations of {文章内容}.55.

Disney said its streaming service Disney+ had 116 million subscribers in its fiscal third quarter, double the 57.5 million subscribers in the year-earlier period and a market forecast of 114.5 million, up from 103.6 million in the previous quarter. Disney+ 's average monthly revenue per subscriber fell 10% year-over-year to $4.16.

Analysts remain optimistic that Disney will reach its target of 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024.

Disney said it had nearly 174 million subscribers to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu at the end of its fiscal third quarter. Revenue in its direct-to-consumer division rose 57 percent to $4.3 billion. Content sales and licensing revenue fell 23 percent to 文章.7 billion in the quarter.

It's also worth noting that Disney's theme parks, experiences and products division returned to profitability for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak began, although the separate theme parks division has yet to turn a profit.

Revenue at Disney's Parks, experiences and products division rose 307.6% to $4.3 billion in the fiscal third quarter, while operating profit reached $356 million, compared with a loss of 文章.87 billion a year earlier. Domestic theme parks, resorts and experiences made an operating profit of $2m, while the international side still lost $210m.

Disney's domestic parks relaxed restrictions in April, leading to an increase in attendance. The revival of the theme park division is crucial to Disney. The segment, which includes cruises and hotels, accounted for 37% of the company's total revenue of $69.6 billion in 2019.

Disney shares rose more than 5 per cent after hours after the results were announced. Shares of the company closed Thursday up 0.67 percent at $179.29.