So you have heard by now that entertainment giant Disney (DIS) is releasing a new movie today, the live-action remake of Snow White. And you have also heard that it has not been going well so far at all, to the point where some question if it will make its shooting budget back. But despite that, and a new counter-insurgency against losing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) principles, Disney stock still managed to gain fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
While the issue of DEI in business remains a hot-button by any standard, Disney stockholders seem encouraged to stick by it. In fact, Disney’s continued participation in a ratings system that scores companies against DEI standards is, so far, endorsed by shareholders. Endorsed to the point that a proposal from the Free Enterprise Project that would have called for Disney to reconsider its involvement in DEI scoring was rejected by shareholders.
The index, known as the Corporate Equality Index, is released annually by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, reports note. Disney, for its part, has received a perfect score in said index since 2007, and it may well continue to do so as investors do not want Disney out of the rankings.
Snow White Calamity
As bad as the picture is shaping up for Snow White, there is one more area in which it is getting savagely pummeled: reviews. A look at Rotten Tomatoes reveals that Snow White currently has a “rotten” rank of 45% through the Tomatometer, which focuses on critic scores. The Popcornmeter, its immediate equivalent for audiences, has not yet updated.
The consensus view, again via Rotten Tomatoes, notes that Rachel Zegler—seen by some as the film’s biggest liability for her outspoken views—delivered, but that the film’s unabashed mistreatment of its source material and its style choices, which Rotten Tomatoes called “dopey,” did not help either. Individual reviews featured such choice phrases as “cheesy,” “contrived,” and “…brimming over with hyperactive theater kid energy that’s better suited for a Disney Princesses cruise ship show.”
Is Disney Stock a Buy or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on DIS stock based on 16 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 13.17% loss in its share price over the past year, the average DIS price target of $129.68 per share implies 30.42% upside potential.
Questions or Comments about the article? Write to editor@tipranks.com