Walt Disney Co.’s streaming app Disney+ witnessed a 68% spike in its downloads after the entertainment company announced the theatrical release of the live-action movie ‘Mulan’ on September 4, according to preliminary data provided by app download research firm, Sensor Tower. Disney (DIS) had twice delayed the release of ‘Mulan’ due to COVID-19, before releasing it on Disney+ in the US.
Sensor Tower told Yahoo Finance that the surge in app downloads was calculated from Sept. 4 through Sept. 6, compared to the prior weekend. Consumer spending on the app soared 193% during the period, as customers paid a digital purchase fee of $30 for watching ‘Mulan’, which was on top of the monthly fee.
Meanwhile, Jason Reed, the co-producer of ‘Mulan’ remains concerned about “the metrics for success,” as the movie was released on a streaming app. Reed told Yahoo Finance that “I’m used to: Monday morning, you open the trades, $100 million opening, and everybody knows you won… We’re not going to have that. We’re not going to know how many new subscribers there were, we’re not going to know how many views there were.” (See DIS stock analysis on TipRanks).
On Sept. 4, Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson maintained a Buy rating on DIS and a price target of $146 (10.6% upside potential) as he believes that the Mulan release should elevate Disney+, given the demand and the lack of recent theatrical content. The analyst added that the marketing of the film will also help advertise Disney+. As Mulan will stream for free as of December 4, he believes that it should help moderate churn on the service.
Currently, the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus is based on 12 Buys, 8 Holds and 2 Sells. The average price target of $131.95 implies that the shares are fully priced at current levels. Shares have declined about 8.7% year-to-date.
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