Bob Iger was summoned out of retirement in 2022 to get iconic media company Walt Disney (DIS:NYSE) whirring again, but there is still much for the chief executive to do to turn round the fortunes of the ‘House of Mouse’.

Cost-cutting progress, streaming business subscriptions and the outlook for the important Parks business will all be scrutinised when Disney delivers third-quarter results on 7 August, when any undershooting of the $1.18 of earnings per share and $23.03 billion of revenue the market is looking for could trigger heavy selling.

Back in May, Disney reported double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth for the second quarter along with a first profitable quarter for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business, which includes Disney+. However, these achievements were overshadowed by worries regarding the weaker-than-expected outlook for Parks and guidance for a decline in entertainment streaming subscriptions in Q3 to reflect the summer lull.

Disney hopes to tackle this via the Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ) model of preventing password-sharing globally, and Iger stressed his charge remained ‘on track to achieve profitability in our combined streaming businesses in Q4’.

Having suffered a series of duds at the box office and straight-to-streaming releases for both its live-action and animated output, investors will be relieved to see ‘Inside Out 2’, the latest release from Disney-owned studio Pixar, proving a summer hit.

US UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

QUARTERLY RESULTS

2 August: Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Linde, PPL

5 August: Berkshire Hathaway, CSX, Williams, ONEOK, Diamondback, Tyson Foods

6 August: Amgen, Caterpillar, Uber Tech, Constellation Energy, Airbnb, Fortinet, Yum! Brands, Fox Corp

7 August: Walt Disney, Hilton Worldwide, Occidental, Global Payments, Warner Bros Discovery, Marathon Oil, Ralph Lauren

8 August: Eli Lilly, Gilead, Datadog, Expedia, News Corp, Paramount Global

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