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Disney Earnings (August 5): Adjusted EPS of $2.06 Beat, Revenue Missed, and Experiences Set a Record $10 Billion Quarter

Disney's fiscal Q3 2026: adjusted EPS of $2.06 against $1.86 expected, revenue of $25.25 billion up 7% but short of $25.4 billion, a record $10 billion Experiences quarter, buyback raised to $9 billion.

By Atul Ghandhi$DIS

Parks Delivered. The Top Line Did Not.

UPDATE (August 7, 2026): Disney reported on August 5 and the split was clean, with the profit line beating and the revenue line missing. Adjusted EPS came in at $2.06 against the $1.85-1.86 consensus quoted below and $1.61 a year ago. Revenue was $25.25 billion, up 7%, short of the $25.4 billion the street wanted.

The D'Amaro test was the part that mattered, and it passed. Experiences delivered record quarterly revenue of $10.0 billion, up 10%, alongside record segment operating income, on 4% global guest growth, 3% domestic attendance growth and 4% higher per-capita spending. This page argued that flat attendance with rising spend was the acceptable outcome under a parks-guy CEO. Domestic attendance grew instead, which is better than the bar it set.

On the guide, management reiterated double-digit adjusted EPS growth for both fiscal 2026 and 2027 and raised the share repurchase target to at least $9 billion from $7 billion. GAAP net income was $2.64 billion, or $1.51 per share, against $5.26 billion and $2.92 a year ago.

Two things we could not source, and will not guess: the actual total segment operating income against the $5.3 billion company guide this page called the only number that mattered, and the ESPN direct-to-consumer subscriber count against the roughly 500,000 modelled below. Both sit in the filing; neither appeared in coverage we could verify against a second source.

Scoring the log below. Row 1 passed on any pre-print options position against a roughly 6% implied move; we have not sourced a verified August 5 close, so it is left ungraded rather than guessed. Row 2's condition, the full-year EPS growth guide holding with parks operating income up, is met.


More on Earnings: Options Scorecard: The Week of August 10, Graded (35 Calls, 51% Right)

TL;DR

  • Disney reports fiscal Q3 2026 results Wednesday, August 5, before the open, with the webcast at 8:30am ET, on the densest morning of the busiest earnings week of the quarter.
  • Consensus wants $1.85 of adjusted EPS, up about 15% from $1.61 a year ago, on revenue near $25.4 billion, up 7.5% from $23.65 billion. Management's own bar: total segment operating income of approximately $5.3 billion, against $4.6 billion a year ago.
  • This is Josh D'Amaro's home-turf quarter: the former Experiences chief runs the company now, and the parks are the segment the street most wants him to defend. UBS models Experiences revenue up 8.7% with domestic attendance roughly flat.
  • ESPN's streaming platform is the wildcard line: one sell-side model has roughly 500,000 subscribers in its first launch quarter, months after a carriage blackout cost ESPN about $110 million of operating income.
  • The stock closed Monday around $98, weak into the print, with options coverage pricing a move of about 6%.

What Time Is Disney's Earnings Report?

Wednesday August 5, before the market opens, with the earnings webcast at 8:30am ET. It shares the morning with Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Uber, Shopify and Circle.

The Board

Stat board for Disney fiscal Q3 2026 earnings August 5 2026 showing consensus adjusted EPS of 1.85 dollars up 15 percent, revenue consensus of 25.4 billion dollars up 7.5 percent, a company guide of approximately 5.3 billion dollars of total segment operating income against 4.6 billion a year ago, an ESPN streaming launch estimate near 500 thousand subscribers, and an implied move of about 6 percent from a Monday close near 98 dollars

The guide is $5.3 billion of segment operating income. Everything else is commentary.

The Bar Management Set Itself

With its May results Disney guided fiscal Q3 total segment operating income to approximately $5.3 billion, roughly 15% above the year-ago $4.6 billion, inside a full-year frame of about 12% adjusted EPS growth (excluding the extra 53rd week this fiscal year). Consensus has lined up obediently: $1.85 against $1.61, $25.4 billion against $23.65 billion. As everywhere this season, the guide beats the quarter: the number that moves the stock is whether that 12% full-year figure survives, rises, or erodes.

D'Amaro's Home Turf

This is the first fiscal third quarter, the summer parks quarter, reported by CEO Josh D'Amaro, who was promoted from running Experiences. UBS models Experiences revenue up 8.7% and segment operating income up 9.6%, with domestic attendance roughly flat after a 1% decline the prior quarter. Flat attendance with rising spend is the acceptable outcome; falling attendance in the summer quarter, under a parks-guy CEO, is the headline nobody in Burbank wants.

The ESPN Line and the Sports Cost Problem

The newer story is ESPN's direct-to-consumer platform. Rosenblatt models roughly 500,000 subscribers in the first launch quarter and nearly $500 million of new 2026 revenue, and the NFL's acquisition of a 10% stake in ESPN closed in January. The backdrop is bruising: the autumn YouTube TV blackout cost ESPN about $110 million of operating income before a new multi-year carriage deal resolved it.

Meanwhile sports operating income is expected down mid-teens on higher rights costs. That is the offset hiding inside the $5.3 billion guide: parks and streaming margins have to out-earn a sports segment that gets structurally more expensive every renewal cycle. Streaming's job is margin: the street wants double-digit direct-to-consumer growth alongside the announced Disney+ price increases, without a subscriber wobble.

The Options Angle

Options coverage prices the print at about 6%, quoted from a single provider, in a stock that closed Monday around $98 and has been sold hard into the report. A cheap-looking implied on a beaten-down mega cap is this season's recurring trap in both directions, so the play list is short:

  • No pre-print position. The implied is single-sourced, the setup is a genuine three-way (parks, streaming margin, full-year guide), and there is no realised-move edge to lean on.
  • The post-print entry is the decision piece: if the full-year guide holds at 12% or better with parks intact, a beaten-down Disney at a high-90s handle is a candidate for shares or calls with time on your side. Logged conditionally below.

Trade log

# Stance Structure Strikes and expiry Cost or credit Spot at writing Implied move Breakeven
1 Pass Any pre-print options position Aug expiries Not sourced ~$98, Aug 3 close ~6%, single source n/a; pass scored against the realised move
2 Conditional Post-print long (shares or 1-2 month calls) if FY adjusted EPS growth guide holds at ~12%+ with parks OI up Struck off the Aug 5 open reaction Struck off the Aug 5 post-print price To be struck Aug 5 n/a Scored against the post-print entry if triggered

The One-Line Read

Disney walks in with its own $5.3 billion bar, a parks-first CEO reporting his first summer quarter, and an ESPN streaming line small enough to ignore and new enough to move the stock anyway: hold the 12% full-year promise and the weak tape into the print becomes the opportunity, bend it and a $98 Disney has further to fall.

Next up:GDP, Wednesday at 8:30am ET

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