Disney Profit Slides, But Beats

Disney(DIS Quote - Cramer on DIS - Stock Picks) on Tuesday reported a decline in first-quarter profits that nevertheless beat expectations and pleased investors on a dark day for the broader stock market.

The media and entertainment giant posted net income for the quarter of $1.25 billion, or 63 cents a share, down from the $1.7 billion, or 79 cents a share, it logged for the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, like the sale of its interest in US Weekly magazine and the E! Entertainment channel, Disney's earnings rose by 29% to 63 cents a share from last year's 49 cents. On that basis, analysts on Wall Street were forecasting earnings of 52 cents a share, according to consensus estimates reported by Thomson Financial.

Disney's performance was boosted by strong results from its theme parks business and its TV business. Revenue rose 8% to $10.4 billion, in line with expectations.

"We've started off 2008 with another outstanding quarter, marked by strong creative and operation performances," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a press release.

Despite those results, shares of Disney have shed 7% so far in 2008 amid a broader market selloff reflecting concerns about a recession in the U.S. economy. Disney's theme parks are viewed as particularly vulnerable given the pullback in consumer spending that has shown up elsewhere, but its latest results provided no justification for those concerns.

Shares of Disney were recently up $1.44, or 4.8%, to $41.51 in post-close trading after a session in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 370 points on weak economic data.