It should have been a better day for media company Disney (NYSE:DIS) than it was. With a new and fairly substantial box office win for “Inside Out 2,” it should have been a great day. But it wasn’t enough for shareholders, who sent shares down fractionally in the closing minutes of Monday’s trading session.
“Inside Out 2” won a particular honor over the holiday weekend, as we discovered that it’s now one of the top-grossing Disney films ever. In fact, it’s now number nine on that list, displacing two installments of the “Star Wars” franchise. Specifically, “Inside Out 2” managed to beat both “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
With only $10 million to go before it beats out the 2019 “Lion King” remake, it’s a pretty safe bet that “Inside Out 2” will land a couple more spaces on the list before it’s all said and done. At least, that’s the case domestically; “Inside Out 2” will have to pull in $400 million to overtake “Lion King” worldwide. But “Inside Out 2” has another win to its credit; it’s currently the highest-grossing film of 2024 and the second-highest grosser for Pixar, behind “The Incredibles 2.”
Trouble in Disneyland
However, there were some issues for Disney; one of the biggest issues that has emerged lately was the issue of disability access in the parks. Disney issued passes called Disability Access Service (DAS) passes, which gave disabled guests special accommodation. Disney recently pared back the list of which disabilities qualified for DAS passes, and now, guests want that access back.
Then, a young mother whose family recently bought a house found herself taking on the issue of a son who wanted to go to Disneyland. With prices still catastrophically high for a Disney park experience, the mother got creative. Apparently, some components of Disney are publicly available, like the fireworks displays, and that led the mother to create a “Disney-ish” response to a son interested in Disney.
Is Disney a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on DIS stock based on 21 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 10.82% rally in its share price over the past year, the average DIS price target of $128.04 per share implies 31.55% upside potential.
