Disney shareholders were eagerly awaiting the Q3 2022 earnings call to find out how the company is doing, and the results did not disappoint! The Walt Disney Company reported strong growth and record revenue in its Parks and Resorts division and a tremendous increase in Disney+ subscribers. Here’s a recap of the recently released earnings information and what Disney CEO Bob Chapek had to say on the earnings call.

Disney’s total revenue for the quarter was up 26% to $21.5 billion, and earnings per share rose to $1.09 per share.

Disney’s Parks and Resorts division saw a 70% increase in revenue, up to $7.39 billion, driven by higher guest spending and demand across all Disney Parks.

Disney+ ended Q3 2022 with more than 152 million global paid subscribers, adding 14.4 million in this quarter alone and significantly beating expectations by almost five million. This news comes alongside the announcement of a new ad-supported Disney+ subscription launching in the U.S. on December 8th. This new tier will be priced at $7.99 per month.

“We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services. With 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the fiscal third quarter, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings,” said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.”

Here are some noteworthy takeaways from the call. You can see the official release HERE.

• Disney received 147 PrimeTime Emmy award nominations this year, with 92 of these for shows or movies on the company’s various streaming platforms.
• Q4 2022 also looks to be a strong quarter for Disney+ with Marvel’s SheHulk, Attorney At Law, Andor, and Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2 scheduled for release.
• The second annual “Disney+ Day” will occur on September 8th.
• All Disney Theme Parks are now open, and while domestic parks attendance is slightly below pre-pandemic levels, revenue is significantly higher over that same period.
• Occupancy of domestic Disney theme park hotels sat at 90% throughout Q3 2022.
• Question whether Disney Genie+ and Lightning Lane are going as planned? The numbers seem to suggest so based on this comment in the earnings release: “The increase in average per capita ticket revenue was due to the introduction of Genie+ and Lightning Lane…”.
• Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at The Walt Disney Company stated that they remain confident that Disney+ will achieve profitability in the fiscal year 2024.
• Josh D’Amaro shoutout on the success of his team in leading Disney Parks through the pandemic and post-pandemic.
• Kristine, in speaking on levers of demand within the parks, mentions the sticky subject of Annual Pass availability and sales, stating that if demand would decrease, this could be revisited. BUT, she also notes that no demand decrease has been seen to date, suggesting that we may not be seeing resumed Annual Pass sales anytime soon.

Stock prices for The Walt Disney Company are up approximately 6% in after-hours trading based on these positive results.