Stocks to Watch: Disney, Zynga, Time Warner

NEW YORK -- Walt Disney's (DIS) fiscal first-quarter profit dipped slightly but it topped expectations as revenue rose 5% to $11.3 billion.

Disney earned $1.38 billion, or 77 cents a share, in the first quarter, down from year-earlier earnings of $1.46 billion, or 80 cents a share.

Adjusted earnings in the quarter were 79 cents a share, topping the Wall Street estimate of 76 cents a share.

Disney said programming and production costs at its ESPN network rose during the quarter.

Disney CEO Robert Iger, during a conference cal Tuesday, said the entertainment giant was "confident about the year ahead, as well as our ability to create continued long-term growth."

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Zynga (ZNGA) topped Wall Street's estimates on Tuesday, posting profit of 1 cent a share on fourth-quarter revenue of $311.1 million. Analysts were looking for a loss of 3 cents a share on sales of $212.1 million.

For the full year, Zynga reported sales of $1.28 billion, up 12% from a year earlier, as daily active users (DAUs) increased to 56 million in the fourth quarter from a year-earlier 54 million. DAUs decreased 6% sequentially from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

For the first quarter of 2013, Zynga said it expects revenue of $255 million to $265 million, and a loss off 2 cents to 4 cents a share.

Zynga Has 'Words With Investors,' Earns Profit

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Time Warner (TWX), which owns networks CNN and HBO and the New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers movie studios, is expected by analysts Wednesday to post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.10 a share on revenue of $8.25 billion.

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News Corp (NWSA) is expected by Wall Street Wednesday to report quarterly profit of 42 cents a share on revenue of $9.28 billion.

The media company plans to split later in 2013 into a publishing company and a filmed entertainment business.

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Drug retailer CVS Caremark (CVS) is forecast to earn $1.10 a share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $31.13 billion.

5 Hated Stocks Set to Soar on Earnings

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Chipotle Mexican Grill's (CMG) fourth-quarter earnings rose 7% as same-store sales jumped 3.8% on higher customer traffic.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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