If Disney stock (DIS) were a franchise, it wouldn’t be stuck in reruns. It’d be in the middle of a high-stakes comeback arc, and 2025 might be the act where the magic actually sticks. Fresh off a Jefferies (JEF) upgrade and a new $144 price target, DIS is already up 11.4% year-to-date, and now looks like a stock that’s finally remembering how to entertain on earnings, not just nostalgia.
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With Bob Iger back in the director’s chair, a cruise business cruising, and content engines firing again, this isn’t just a rebound, it’s a reset.
Strong Earnings Give Disney’s Comeback a Real Foundation
Forget box office metrics. The real numbers that matter are on the balance sheet, and they’re turning bullish fast.
In Q2 Fiscal 2025, Disney pulled in $23.6 billion in revenue, up 7% year-over-year. EPS hit $1.81, crushing estimates and staging a full recovery from last year’s loss. Free cash flow more than doubled to $4.9 billion, and operating cash flow hit $6.8 billion, a clear sign that the Iger effect isn’t just cultural, it’s financial.
The company’s $5.85 billion in cash gives it enough room to maneuver, invest, and hedge against any economic storm clouds still hanging over the consumer. That’s financial choreography done right.
Cruises, Content, and Theme Parks: The Flywheel Spins Again
Jefferies’ James Heaney called out Disney’s cruise business as a key growth lever, and he’s not wrong. The Disney Treasure’s early bookings are already stacked, and it’s just the beginning. As new ships join the fleet and premium pricing holds, this becomes a high-margin, experience-led revenue stream that nicely complements the streaming side.
Meanwhile, the content slate isn’t limping anymore. The integration of Hulu and live sports into Disney+ is helping fight churn while giving subscribers more bang for their buck. Analysts see this as a key move that boosts user engagement and average revenue per user, especially as international expansion picks up.
Then there’s the $30 billion park investment. From Monsters Inc. lands to new Cars-themed expansions, Disney is not just refreshing IP, it’s reengineering how families spend money in Florida and California for the next 10 years.
IP like No Other, and Disney Knows How to Use It
Disney’s greatest moat isn’t content, it’s control. Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, ESPN, classic characters, it’s a vault of monetizable emotional real estate. And unlike other IP holders, Disney has the distribution, theme parks, cruise ships, and global licensing machine to fully exploit it.
Every release carries built-in audience loyalty, which means the marketing costs drop while the margin potential rises. When other streamers pay to build brands, Disney already owns the hearts and lunchboxes.
This kind of flywheel is rare, and when it works, it feeds itself across verticals.
Is Disney Stock a Good Buy?
Right now, Disney has a “Strong Buy” rating based on 16 Buys, three Holds and zero Sell ratings. The average 12-month DIS price target is $129.24, offering about 5% upside from current levels, though Jefferies sees that number going as high as $144.
In a market that’s still distracted by AI hype and short-term macro noise, Disney’s quietly becoming a steady compounder again. The kind of stock that may not pop overnight, but one that builds value quarter by quarter, the way Disney used to.
