Investing Club: Cramer says Disney is a buy — and he's got an idea to attract more retail investors to the stock

Published Tue, Mar 29 20222:05 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Mar 29 20222:09 PM EDT

Kevin Stankiewicz @in/kevinstankiewicz @kevin_stank

Disney (DIS) shares are a buy at current levels, due in part to the potential for Wall Street to change its collective mind about the stock. In particular, we think analysts and other market participants may start to care more about the company's theme parks business following a multiyear period in which streaming service Disney+ was their main focus. That would be good for Disney's stock price since it's boom times for its Parks, Experiences and Products segment. Revenue there more than doubled in quarter ended Jan. 1, and the division contributed roughly 75% of Disney's operating income. Bottom line The Club is looking to add to its position in Disney — but for now, we're holding off on deploying fresh capital since a key indicator we use to anticipate turns in the market is flashing an overbought signal. However, we recognize Club subscribers may not be managing their own portfolios exactly like us, and for that reason, we felt it was important to share our view on Disney. We maintain our 1 rating on the stock, meaning we would buy it right here. Despite Tuesday's move higher, Disney shares were still down about 8% year to date. The stock has been underperforming the S & P 500 so far in 2022. The index has rallied in recent weeks to trim its year-to-date losses to just over 3%. Theme parks Why do we think Disney's theme parks business may begin to draw more investor attention? Well, Disney's own management appears to be trying to steer the spotlight there. Jim Cramer explained Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" : "There's a big investor day at Walt Disney World right now. They have a giant crowd, a hundred analysts. There's going to be a major focus on how well the park is doing. ... I think this meeting could be a break-through meeting. ... This is going to be the theme park writ large, which has not been emphasized. There's been too much talk about Disney+." Cramer later tweeted about Disney's stock action Tuesday — up nearly 2.5% in afternoon trading to about $142 per share. Disney's Parks, Experiences and Products — which also includes its cruise business in addition to theme parks — was decimated by the coronavirus pandemic and weighed on earnings. Now, as further public-health restrictions have been lifted, it's a completely different story. The division posted its first profit since Covid began in its fiscal 2021 third quarter , due partly to theme park losses narrowing, and it's not looked back since. In an early February CNBC interview, CEO Bob Chapek talked about the remarkable consumer demand Disney was seeing at its theme parks. We called out that commentary at the time , saying it reaffirmed our confidence in Disney as being way more than a company that benefited from the Covid-era growth of streaming. About two weeks after Chapek's Feb. 2 interview, we also got word Disney was raising the price of multiday passes to its Orlando theme parks — the first major adjustment since March 2019. We viewed that price hike as yet another positive demand indicator . The move also helps support overall earnings, as major investment in new streaming content weighs on the bottom line of Disney's Media and Entertainment Distribution division. Looking ahead into the spring and summer, we expect theme parks to remain strong, even as some wonder how higher fuel prices will impact vacation plans. We think post-Covid pent-up demand is too strong. Additionally, Disney has yet to receive the full benefit of international travelers returning to its properties. Retail investors Cramer on Tuesday offered up an idea to attract more retail investors to Disney's stock, given its struggles to gain full-fledged backing from institutions. Here's what Cramer proposed during a "Squawk on the Street": "You own shares in Disney. Maybe you get a discount at the incredibly expensive theme park. Maybe you get to cut in line. Maybe you get to go into the theme park even earlier than other people, if you can prove that you own a couple of shares." The idea, essentially, amounts to a shareholder loyalty program. In an attempt to capitalize on its popularity as a meme stock, AMC Entertainment last year rolled out an initiative that caters to retail investors, offering them various perks including special movie screenings. AMC's announcement came as the company was trying to encourage more people to return to movie theaters during the pandemic. Right now, Disney's fundamentals are much better than AMC's were when it announced its retail investor program. Still, Cramer said he thinks retail investors are worth Disney's attention. Disney already has one of the world's strongest corporate brands outside of the investment world, which Cramer believes makes the company a logical candidate to court retail investors. "The institutions don't really care for Disney or else the stock would be dramatically, much closer to where it's worth, so let's get the individuals involved. They'll pay up, and they can get certain benefits," Cramer said. The Club has a price target of $200 on Disney shares. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. 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Walt Disney World

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