LOS ANGELES _ Walt Disney Co. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.77 billion, up 10 percent from a year earlier, but failed to deliver on analysts' expectations.
There were several weak spots for the company during the quarter that ended Oct. 1 with notable declines in box office sales and advertising and affiliate fee revenue at ESPN.
All four of the company's business groups posted lower operating income than the same quarter last year. Overall, revenue was down 3 percent to $13.1 billion.
Analysts had expected the Los Angeles-area entertainment juggernaut to post earnings of $1.15 a share and revenues of $13.52 billion, according to investment research firm Zacks. But Disney reported earnings of $1.10 a share.
Disney's stock was swiftly punished in after-hours trading, dropping nearly 3 percent at one point to $92.35. In regular trading Thursday, its shares had closed up 32 cents, or 0.3 percent, ess than 1 percent in regular trading to $94.96.
In a statement, Disney said that the fourth quarter results were hurt by the fact that fiscal 2015 included an additional week of operations.
The studio group, which had been a strong performer during the fiscal third quarter, experienced a notable decline, undone by box office disappointments "Pete's Dragon," "The BFG" and "Queen of Katwe." It reported operating income of $381 million, a 28 percent drop. Revenue was up 2 percent to $1.81 billion.
The company's closely watched media networks group, which includes crown jewel ESPN, also had a difficult quarter. It posted operating income of $1.67 billion, down 8 percent. Revenue fell 3 percent to $5.66 billion. Within the group, the broadcast division posted operating income of $224 million, up 37 percent. Revenue rose 8 percent to $1.7 billion. But the cable division, which includes ESPN, recorded operating income of $1.45 billion, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Revenue for the group was down 7 percent to $3.96 billion.
Disney attributed the operating income decline at the cable division partly to lower advertising and affiliate revenue at ESPN, in addition to higher programming and production costs.
Last year, Disney's stock plunged over concerns on Wall Street about subscriber losses at ESPN, which has lost more than 9 million subscribers since 2013, according to Nielsen data.
Disney and Nielsen have also been engaged in a dispute over an estimate the information services company put out last month about subscriber losses at ESPN projected for November. Nielsen data showed the network losing 621,000 subscribers, but ESPN has questioned the figure, saying it doesn't include information from streaming television providers.
The parks and resorts group posted operating income of $699 million, down 5 percent from a year earlier. Revenue rose 1 percent to $4.39 billion, reflecting an increase in spending at Walt Disney World.
Disney's consumer products and interactive group reported operating income of $424 million, which was down 5 percent. Revenue dropped 17 percent to $1.29 billion. Disney attributed the decline in revenue to the discontinuation of the Infinity video game line, which the company canceled in May. Lower operating income was attributed partly to a decline in merchandise licensing.
