Ushering in good news, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) announced one-time cash bonus of $1,000 for nearly 125,000 U.S. employees. Moreover, the company stated it will invest $50 million in an education program.
The company further added that all full as well as part-time non-executive staffs are eligible for the bonus, if they have been associated with the company since Jan 1, 2018. Bonus will be paid in two parts, the first part in March and the second one in September.
It’s apparent that the implementation of the new tax law has put almost everyone in good spirits. Disney became the latest company to join the bandwagon of companies — Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) Stores, Inc. (NYSE:T) , AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) , The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) — who passed on the tax benefits to its employees.
Iger said “I am proud we are directing approximately $125 million to our cast members and employees across the country and making higher education more accessible with the launch of this new program.” Following the bonus and education initiatives, the company’s cost will rise by $175 million in this fiscal year.
Stock performance
In the past three months, Disney’s shares have gained 13.8%, outperforming the industry's growth of 8.1%. However, considering price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, the company looks overvalued when compared with the industry. The stock has a trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 19.37, higher than the median level of 18.68 scaled in a year’s time. Meanwhile, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the industry is 14.46.
Meanwhile, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is acquiring majority of Twenty-First Century Fox’s assets, which includes its Film and Television studios accompanied by cable and international TV businesses. The deal provides a bout of fresh air to Disney, which for quite some time now has been jostling in the fast changing media landscape, where rise in streaming and cord cutting have become two faces of the coin. No wonder, the buyout of these assets would considerably enhance the media mogul’s bargaining power with Cable TV providers, increase affiliate fees, provide a fresh lease of life to ESPN and create cost synergies.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All
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Walt Disney Company (The) (DIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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