Disney’s Media, Parks Surge

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Disney’s Media, Parks Boost Earnings

Shares of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) jumped 6.64% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the entertainment and media giant posted positive earnings.

Financials: Disney reported earnings per share of $1.06 and revenue of $21.8 billion, both were better than expected.

Streaming: It was a strong quarter for Disney+, the company’s streaming service. There were 129.9 million subscribers, an addition of 11.8 million in the quarter, which was better than expected.

Park It: The company’s parks and experiences segment hit $7.2 billion in revenue and $2.5 billion in operating income, an incredible accomplishment signaling that Disney’s parks are back in business.

Missing: If there was one weak spot, it was likely the direct-to-consumer segment, but otherwise, the company was strong.

Final Thoughts: Disney’s stock is down 22% in the past year. These results set up the company for a strong 2022.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Affirm Holdings (Nasdaq: AFRM), PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP), Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Datadog (Nasdaq: DDOG), Cloudflare (NYSE: NET), AstraZeneca (Nasdaq: AZN), Zillow Group (Nasdaq: Z), Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM), Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB), GlobalPayments (NYSE: GPN), Expedia Group (Nasdaq: EXPE), Canada Goose (NYSE: GOOS), Upwork (Nasdaq: UPWK), Tapestry (NYSE: TPR), DexCom (Nasdaq: DXCM), ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS), PG&E (NYSE: PCG), Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY), Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE), Blue Apron Holdings (NYSE: APRN), Chemours (NYSE: CC), Colliers International Group (Nasdaq: CIGI), Coursera (NYSE: COUR), Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), CyberArk Software (Nasdaq: CYBR), DaVita (NYSE: DVA), Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO), GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII), Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Laboratory Corp. of America (NYSE: LH), Linde (NYSE: LIN), Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM), Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE: MTD), Mohawk Industries (NYSE: MHK), Moody's (NYSE: MCO), Patterson-UTI Energy (Nasdaq: PTEN), Piper Sandler (NYSE: PIPR), Qualys (Nasdaq: QLYS), Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK), Terex (NYSE: TEX), TotalEnergies SE (NYSE: TTE), VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN), Western Union (NYSE: WU), Yelp (NYSE: YELP), Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA), Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN).

Notable IPOs Today: Modiv Inc. (NYSE: MDV), BRC Inc. (NYSE: BRCC), HeartCore Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTCR), iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF (Nasdaq: PABU), Modular Medical, Inc. Common Stock (Nasaq: MODD), Larkspur Health Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq LSPR), SQL Technologies Corp. Common Stock (Nasdaq: SKYX), CF Acquisition Corp. VII Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: CFFS), Sagaliam Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: SAGA).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Orbital Assembly Corporation (NetCapital), Vene Rides (Republic), Stream Dx (Republic).

Notable Economic Events Today: Jobless claims (8:30 a.m. ET), Consumer price index (8:30 a.m. ET), Federal Budget Balance (2:00 p.m. ET).

Uber Survives Omicron With Strong Earnings

Shares of Uber (NYSE: UBER) jumped 5.75% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the mobility company posted positive earnings.

Financials: Uber reported earnings per share of 44 cents and revenue of $5.78 billion; both were better than expected.

Pandemic: While the omicron variant impacted Uber in late December, the company said its mobility is already bouncing back. Investors really liked the company’s optimistic tone.

Final Thoughts: The financial results were boosted by a $1.4 billion net benefit relating to Uber's equity investments.

Stocks Investors Should Look at Alternatives

With the stock markets off to a volatile start in 2022, investors may want to consider some alternatives for their portfolios this year.

The Reason: With inflation and interest rate hikes, this year’s stock market is very different than last year. Portfolio diversification is critical, which means looking beyond just stocks.

Examples: Some popular alternatives in 2022 include cryptocurrency, real estate, fine art, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), farmland, and peer-to-peer lending.

Final Thoughts: Consider speaking to a financial advisor before investing heavily into alternatives, which are usually reserved for a small percentage of a portfolio.

Trends to Watch

New Requirements: SEC Proposes Broad Disclosure Rules for Private Investment Funds (The Wall Street Journal)

Breakthrough: Experts hail big step forward in fusion technology in UK (The Associated Press)

Good Dog: Shiba Inu Sets Course for Meme Coin Metaverse as Doge Killer Token Jumps 48% (Decrypt)

Coming Soon: BlackRock Planning to Offer Crypto Trading, Sources Say (CoinDesk)

Year of Rate Hikes: Fed’s Mester says ‘each meeting is going to be in play’ for rate hikes this year (CNBC)

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