scorecard
  1. Home
  2. Advertising
  3. news
  4. A full breakdown of the value of each of Disney's businesses before and after the coronavirus, according to Wells Fargo analysts

A full breakdown of the value of each of Disney's businesses before and after the coronavirus, according to Wells Fargo analysts

Ashley Rodriguez   

A full breakdown of the value of each of Disney's businesses before and after the coronavirus, according to Wells Fargo analysts

This image released by Disney/Marvel Studios' shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from
  • Wells Fargo analysts are valuing Disney's businesses at 26% less than they were before the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new report.
  • The firm, which had been bullish on Disney's streaming efforts, said in an April 7 report that it didn't anticipate the "severe downturn" for Disney's parks business that was caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
  • Wells Fargo is now expecting Disney's parks to remain empty for the rest of the company's fiscal year, ending in September, and be filled to half capacity to limit crowding next fiscal year.
  • "Until the time at which there is significantly improved testing and/or a widely available vaccine it's tough for us to imagine long lines for 'Rise of the Resistance,' no matter how much folks might want to go to [Walt Disney World] deep down," the note said.
  • See how Wells Fargo is valuing each of Disney's businesses below.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Analysts at Wells Fargo are valuing Disney's businesses at 26% less than they were before the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new report.

The firm, which said it had been bullish on Disney since the media company unveiled its streaming strategy in 2017, said in an April 7 report that it was tweaking its view in light of the severe global disruption to Disney's theme-park business, an impeding "ad recession," and a challenging theatrical environment.

Wells Fargo is now targeting an enterprise value of $244 billion for Disney over the next 12 months, compared with $331 billion before the coronavirus outbreak.

Disney's enterprise value is currently around $213 billion after the stock took a beating this past month due to coronavirus concerns and as the company took on more debt.

The biggest cuts from Wells Fargo's valuation came from Disney's theme-park business, which was once a reliable profit driver.

"We've thought the value creation from Disney Plus (and later on Hulu) would be enough to more than offset a declining environment for media networks," the note said. "We still believe in that, but we didn't foresee this unique and severe downturn for parks."

The analysts expect "zero park attendance" and no revenue for the rest of Disney's fiscal year, which closes on September 30, since Disney's theme parks are now closed.

Even when the parks reopen, it'll take time for attendance to ramp up again. Wells Fargo projects Disney parks will be filled to half capacity during the company's next fiscal year to limit crowding. It could take two years for attendance to recover, the firm said.

"Until the time at which there is significantly improved testing and/or a widely available vaccine it's tough for us to imagine long lines for 'Rise of the Resistance,' no matter how much folks might want to go to [Walt Disney World] deep down," the note said."We see the limiting factor as healthcare technology as assets like Walt Disney World will either need to operate with social distancing in-place - significantly limiting capacity - or a vaccine will need to be widely enough available that the population will again feel safe in such a gathering. Testing may also improve, allowing customers with immunity/antibodies to behave a bit more freely."

Disney executives seem to be realizing that as well. Executive chairman and former CEO Bob Iger told Barron's that Disney is discussing whether it will need to implement temperature checks at its parks, similar to the way it checks visitors' bags.

"One of the things that we're discussing already is that in order to return to some semblance of normal, people will have to feel comfortable that they're safe," Iger said in the interview. "Some of that could come in the form ultimately of a vaccine, but in the absence of that it could come from basically, more scrutiny, more restrictions. Just as we now do bag checks for everybody that goes into our parks, it could be that at some point we add a component of that that takes people's temperatures, as a for-instance."

There was one silver lining in the Wells Fargo report.

Some Disney businesses, like its streaming services, could become more valuable as people stream more video while at home.

Here's the breakdown of Wells Fargo's valuation for each of Disney's businesses, based on company reports and Wells Fargo's estimates:

Company assetTarget Enterprise Value before April 7Target EV after April 7
Studios (Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Disney, 20th Century Fox)$94.8 billion$73.8 billion
Parks$66.7 billion$22.9 billion
Disney Plus (excluding India AVOD)$46.7 billion$54 billion
Consumer products$36.3 billion$14.8 billion
Hulu$22.2 billion$27.1 billion
ESPN$17.6 billion$11 billion
Other cable networks (e.g. FX)$14.9 billion$14.2 billion
Broadcast networks and studios$12.2 billion$8 billion
International networks$9.2 billion$7.6 billion
BAMTech$5.1 billion$5.1 billion
ESPN Plus$5 billion$5 billion
TOTAL$330.6 billion$244 billion

For more about how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting media, see our coverage on BI Prime:



Popular Right Now



Advertisement