Disney stock pops amid earnings beat and streaming subscriber growth

Yahoo Finance reporter Allie Canal breaks down Disney's latest earnings results and how it's moving shares to the upside.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. Shares of Disney seeing a huge pop in after hours trade here, up 5 and 1/2% on the back of their latest results, a big beat here on Disney+ subscriber numbers. Let's bring in Allie Canal, who's tracking the very latest for us. Allie, we're not just talking about subscriber growth for Disney+. Also a big beat just really on earnings and revenue.

ALLIE CANAL: Definitely. This was a really strong quarter, Akiko. We saw revenue coming in at 21.5 billion versus the estimated 21 billion. Also a beat on adjusted earnings per share, $1.09 versus the expected $0.96. You mentioned those Disney+ subscriber net additions, 14.4 million versus 10 million that was expected. The parks experience and consumer products side also rising significantly, 7.39 billion versus the 6.65 billion that was expected. Obviously, that's due to the fact that we saw a surge in spring travel, a lot of those international travelers returning as well.

Another interesting point to note here is that Disney revealed that it will be raising its Disney+ ad-free streaming price by 38%. I'm curious to get a little bit more color on that on the earnings call. But by and large, this was a very successful quarter for the company. Stock up about 6% in after hours trading, but that being said, Akiko, there are some fundamental questions that Disney is going to have to answer in the near term.

For example, what are they going to do with ESPN+? What about Hulu? What's the strategy on the side of Bob Chapek? We really don't know much about him. We really don't know how he's going to lead this company in the future. And although this was a positive quarter, analysts and investors alike are going to have a lot of questions on that earnings call later this afternoon. So we'll be tracking that. But again, shares up about 6% after hours.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And Allie, in terms of streaming, after what we saw with Netflix, a lot of people weren't sure what was going to happen with Disney and its streaming service. How surprising are these results?

ALLIE CANAL: This is pretty surprising, but I will say that the analysts that I've spoken with did expect Disney to be on the subscriber guidance here, largely due to the fact that they opened in some new markets. We have a pretty robust content slate that should take us through the back half of the year. We saw the premiere of "Obi-Wan Kenobi," which probably was a big factor in driving a lot of those subscriber numbers.

But you're right. This has been a very volatile quarter for a lot of these streaming giants. Disney saw a big beat. Netflix lost 1 million subscribers. We saw Peacock not too long ago. They didn't add any subs in its most recent quarter. So it seems like all of these streaming services are telling a different picture about the landscape and the environment right now. So certainly, a lot to watch here. If we take a look at some of the other streaming giants right now, Netflix, it was up 5% at the close, now coming down a little bit. Disney clearly the leader there in after hours trading.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, and that point you just made about differentiating between the streaming services, it's certainly becoming an increasingly important one because when you think about the conversation from the last quarter with Netflix, when we saw that huge drop in subs, it became, have we seen the peak in streaming? And now we're starting to see that it really is a case by case thing. Disney+ certainly still seeing growth there.

You mentioned a few things. Bob Chapek, this is the first time he's getting on a call since he got that contract extension. But also the experiences, parks and experiences, a huge jump here, 72%. But how much of this is now facing a headwind because of inflation costs? I mean, it's not a cheap experience to go to Disneyland.

ALLIE CANAL: It's not, and Disney has implemented some new changes to its reservation system to try and make it easier on consumers to come visit, but that will be a headwind. And I think on the earnings call, Bob Chapek is going to be questioned, how do you sustain this momentum? How are you safeguarding the parks side of the business, in case there is a recession, in case the economy worsens?

That is a really, really big point because the parks business is an incredibly huge driver for Disney's bottom line overall. And if that goes down, odds are, is that their overall revenue will go down, too. So they need to make sure that this park business is as healthy as it possibly can be.

AKIKO FUJITA: OK, stay right there. We're going to break down the numbers a little later in the--