Disney stock has received its first Wall Street downgrade in more than three years, as Barclays highlighted slowing growth at the Disney+ streaming service.
In the June quarter, Disney+ subscriber numbers beat Wall Street estimates, with the streaming service adding over 12 million subs, to reach 116 million worldwide.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek warned investors at a Goldman Sachs conference last month not to expect subscriber growth to “be a steady march from quarter to quarter”, pointing out that Disney+ growth had, indeed, slowed in the current September quarter, predicting figures in the “low single-digit millions.”
Disney stock fell 5 per cent after Chapek made the comments.
Chapek pointed out that other streaming services such as Netflix also experienced a slow-down in growth, and that Disney+ is planning to push into new markets in the new year, which will again bolster growth.
“While the company [Disney] appears to be targeting one new piece of content a week, not every piece of content has the same franchise value or visibility,” Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar said.
Barclays says for Disney+ to reach its target of 230-260 million subs by the end of June 2024, it will need to more than double its subscriber growth from here on out.
Disney shares fell by 3 per cent after Barclays’ warning.
