Disney Focuses on Expanding Theme Park Business: Can the Plan Deliver?

Disney DIS is working to grow its theme-park footprint globally. The company plans to spend approximately $60 billion over the next decade to expand its overall business, 70% of which is allocated to Theme parks and Cruise Line expansion.

Disney’s current plan includes constructing a new Disneyland in Abu Dhabi (UAE’s first and seventh Disney theme-park resort), a 6,000-vehicle parking space, an expanded Avengers campus, and new attractions based on Coco and Avatar in California’s Disneyland resort. DIS also plans to spend $30 billion on Florida and California theme parks.

The Experience segment, which includes Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products, contributed to 37.6% of total revenues for the second quarter of 2025. Theme Parks attract approximately 150 million annual visitors, benefiting top-line growth. Segment revenues rose 5.9% year over year to $8.89 billion in the second quarter. Domestic Parks and Experiences' operating income grew 13% year over year to $1.8 billion.

Disney now expects Experiences' operating income for fiscal 2025 to grow between 6% and 8%. The company is seeing strong bookings for Walt Disney World for both the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2025. Bookings are expected to hit the high end of the 6% to 8% guidance. However, sluggishness in China remains a concern.

Per our model, fiscal 2025 Experience segment revenues are expected to grow 2.5% year over year to $35 billion. Experience operating income is expected to increase 6.2% year over year to $9.84 billion, with the segment’s operating margin anticipated to hit 28.1%, indicating a 90-basis-point year-over-year expansion.

The Competitive Landscape — DIS Remains Under Pressure

Disney’s theme park segment faces intense competition from rivals like Comcast CMCSA owned Universal Parks and Resorts, and Six Flags Entertainment FUN.

Comcast-owned Universal Parks and Resorts, Disney’s topmost rival, recently inaugurated Epic Universe, an exquisite theme park in Orlando, its first in more than two decades. This 750-acre expansion, estimated to cost approximately $7 billion and over 10 years for construction, could be a catalyst in growing Comcast’s Universal Parks and Resorts’ theme-park business, which currently contributes to approximately 20% of total revenues.

Six Flags Entertainment, the newly merged entity combining Six Flags and Cedar Fair, plans to garner maximum annual visits through its vast network of 42 parks and nine hotels spread across the North American continent. Six Flags Entertainment’s current business model aims at premiumisation, with family packages priced at over $1000.

DIS’ Share Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

DIS shares have appreciated 5.9% in the year-to-date period, outperforming the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector’s return of 5.1% but lagging the Zacks Media Conglomerates industry’s appreciation of 9.1%.

Disney shares have also outperformed Comcast and Six Flags Entertainment year to date. While shares of Comcast dropped 8.7%, FUN plunged 37%.

From a valuation standpoint, DIS stock is currently trading at a Price/Earnings ratio of 20.53X compared with the industry’s 23.36X. DIS has a Value Score of B.

DIS’ Valuation

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DIS’s 2025 revenues is pegged at $94.89 billion, indicating 3.86% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for 2025 earnings is pegged at $5.76 per share, up by 4 cents over the past 30 days. This indicates a 15.9% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.

DIS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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