Walt Disney (DIS) -) shares slumped lower Tuesday after the media and entertainment giant unveiled plans to double investment in its parks and cruise line business.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing published Tuesday, and ahead of its annual investor day at Walt Disney World, Disney said it would allocate $60 billion over the next ten years to "expand and enhance" its Parks & Experiences business.
Parks and Experiences delivered around $8.3 billion in third quarter revenues, Disney reported last month, up 13% from the prior year period and around 37% of the group's overall total. However, in terms of operating income, the division was, and remains, its most-profitable: Parks and Experiences generated $2.425 billion in operating profits, an 11% increase from last year, offsetting and 18% decline in the group's Media and Entertainment Distribution segment.
"The Company is developing plans to accelerate and expand investment in its (Disney Parks, Experiences and Products) segment, to nearly double, as compared to the previous approximately 10-year period, consolidated capital expenditures for the segment over the course of an approximately 10-year period to approximately $60 billion in aggregate," Disney said "Including by investing in expanding and enhancing domestic and international parks and cruise line capacity, prioritizing projects anticipated to generate strong returns, consistent with the Company’s continuing approach to allocate capital in a disciplined and balanced manner."
"We believe that the Company’s financial condition is strong and that its cash balances, other liquid assets, operating cash flows, access to capital markets and borrowing capacity under current bank facilities, taken together, provide adequate resources to fund ongoing operating requirements, contractual obligations, upcoming debt maturities as well as future capital expenditures related to the expansion of existing businesses and development of new projects," the statement added.
Disney shares were marked 3.4% lower in early afternoon trading immediately following the spending announcement to change hands at $82.10 each.
Disney's development pipeline for Parks is merely limited to its ability to work within its existing footprint while Disney is learning to maximize the levers it has," said KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel.
"Going forward, incremental levers to pull are likely to develop more slowly as the parks being closed enabled a meaningful transition, though the Company remains extremely optimistic that its Parks business can be better positioned during any economic environment," he added.
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