Job and cost cuts are the key catalysts that boost the stock price. Disney (DIS) also increased its attractiveness to income investors by hiking its dividend.
Last night, Disney declared a 45-cent semi-annual dividend, 50% higher than the 30 cents paid in January. Revenue of $23.5 billion is unchanged from last year. In its first quarter, the company reported Hulu subscribers grew by 1.2% sequentially. However, Disney+ lost 1.3 million subscribers sequentially.
Disney+ will add between 5.5 million and 6 million core subscribers in the second quarter.
Semiconductor firm Arm Holdings (ARM) gained 21% in after-hours trade. It increased its full-year EPS to between $1.20 and $1.24 per share, up sharply from a prior forecast of $1.00 to $1.00 a share. In the next quarter, Arm will post 28 to 32 cents in EPS.
Widely-held Chinese tech firm Alibaba (BABA) slumped hard yesterday after posting weak results. Shares dropped by 5.87%. The $25 billion stock buy-back is meaningless. The firm raised its 2022 stock buy-back by the same amount. Two years later, it failed to end the stock’s downtrend. Beware of JD.com, Baidu (BIDU), and Tencent (TCEHY) stock.
China ousted its head of securities watchdog. The country is struggling to stabilize the major stock markets including the Hang Seng and Chinese Securities Index (CSI 300).