Going into this report, expectations for Disney were cautious. The quarter itself came in better than that — and management then kept its fiscal 2026 and 2027 targets in place and added $1B to the buyback program.

**Guidance held, buybacks raised**

There's no shortage of macro pressure in Disney's environment right now. Even so, the company left its growth targets for fiscal 2026 and 2027 unchanged, and raised the fiscal 2026 buyback from $8B to $9B. Add dividends of just under $3B, and total shareholder returns for the year come to nearly $12B.

**Experiences: better than feared**

The parks, cruise and consumer products business actually did well. Revenue beat expectations, and operating margin came in above 30%, up nearly 3 points from a year ago.

The industry backdrop is genuinely difficult. Geopolitically driven swings in oil prices have reduced international visitors to the US parks, while inflation has weighed on some domestic visitors too. Disney's Asian parks have grown slowly, held back by local consumer conditions and limits on China–Japan air routes, among other factors.

Disney offset those pressures through new park openings and its cruise business.

Experiences was, in fact, the main reason the market's outlook for Disney had turned negative — rising oil prices being the specific worry. On top of that, at the end of June, Comcast said on its earnings call that demand at its own Orlando parks had declined after June and that the coming quarter would remain under pressure.

The actual result was fine — not as bad as imagined. Domestic park attendance rose 3% from a year ago, and spend per visitor rose 4%. Given the low base in Q4, the popularity of the Frozen-themed area at Disneyland Paris, and cruise demand showing no sign of weakening, Disney's near-term growth pressure may be lighter than some peers'.

**Entertainment: some good, some not**

Revenue growth here slowed to 6%, with a 15% margin, up 5 points from a year ago — though part of that came from content spending being pushed to later periods.

Streaming grew steadily at 11%, of which 4 points came from Fubo TV. Subscription revenue rose 15%, with both subscriber numbers and pricing contributing, helped mainly by the One Disney+ strategy. Third-party data shows Disney+ app downloads growing strongly in markets like Japan and South Korea as more anime and Korean drama content was added, which reflects the company putting more weight on international streaming markets.

Now that streaming has demonstrated it can be profitable, attention has shifted back to how fast it can grow. But starting this year Disney no longer discloses subscriber counts, which works against expectations. And by Nielsen viewing-share data, Disney+ and Hulu combined haven't gained ground either. Measured against what people expected, then, streaming's performance was reasonable.

Film went the other way. This was supposed to be a strong point in the release cycle, with high hopes for theatrical, and the results fell short. Some box office from *Toy Story 5* was recognized in the quarter, but *Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu* and *Moana* both underperformed after release, coming in below expectations. *The Devil Wears Prada 2* did reasonably well overall. Looking at what's left that can be recognized in fiscal 2026, it comes down to the recently released *Spider-Man* — a share of box office after theatre splits, plus related merchandise revenue.

**Sports: growth up, margin down**

Growth picked up slightly against a low base, mainly thanks to the NBA playoffs and the NFL. But as management flagged last quarter, NBA rights costs are high, and this year's finals schedule was relatively compressed. With limited room to expand monetization, that squeezed profit: Q3 operating margin fell 5 points from a year ago.

Disney Q3: guidance for 2026 and 2027 held, buyback raised to $9B