Disney Profit Beats Forecasts On Movies, Theme Parks

Walt Disney posted a better-than-expected 22 percent rise in quarterly earnings on double-digit growth at its movie studio, theme parks and media networks.

Cinderella's Castle
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Cinderella's Castle

The news sent Disney shares up 3 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $33.73, up 1.3 percent.

The entertainment giant said it earned $1.13 billion, or 58 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 29, compared with $919 million, or 44 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue for the period grew 10 percent to $8.71 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 51 cents per share on $8.47 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Financial.

"It was a fantastic quarter," said Rich Greenfield, analyst with Pali Research. "Not only are theme parks doing better than investors feared, but the vast majority of the company aside from theme parks exceeded investors' expectations, particularly the media networks.''