After starting the session deep in negative territory, major benchmarks largely recouped their early losses to close mixed on Wednesday as investors digested surprise rate cuts from the central banks of Thailand, New Zealand, and India. The moves were largely viewed as a broader indication of growing concern about a potential global economic slowdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) posted a modest decline, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.02%) managed to close up slightly.
Today's stock market
| Index | Percentage Change | Point Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow | (0.09%) | (22.45) |
| S&P 500 | 0.08% | 2.21 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
As for individual stocks, Dow component Walt Disney (DIS 0.18%) fell after announcing weaker-than-expected quarterly results, while Match Group (MTCH) soared following its impressive Q2 report.
Image source: Getty Images.
Disney deals with growing pains
Shares of Disney fell 4.9% after the iconic entertainment conglomerate told investors its second-quarter revenue increased 33% to $20.25 billion, translating into a 28% decline in adjusted net income to $1.35 per share. Most analysts were modeling higher earnings of $1.75 per share on revenue closer to $21.47 billion.
Chairman and CEO Bob Iger blamed the miss on Disney's integration of its $71 billion acquisition of most the assets of Twenty-First Century Fox, which only just closed in March. In particular, Disney suffered from the relative underperformance of Fox's film studios, including the box office bomb that was X-Men: Dark Phoenix, as well as losses at Star India. In total, Fox had a greater-than-expected negative $0.60-per-share impact on Disney's earnings.
Meanwhile, it seems an understatement to say Disney's legacy studios performed well, setting a new industry record with more than $8 billion in total box office sales so far in 2019, driven by its slate of Marvel, Pixar, and Disney films. Disney is also gearing up for the November launch of its new Disney+ video-streaming service, which will start at $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for a year. Disney+ will also be available in a bundle with ESPN+ and ad-supported Hulu for $12.99 per month.
Investors swipe right on Match Group
Match Group stock soared 24.2% after the dating products leader delivered impressive second-quarter results. Revenue climbed 18% (or 22% in constant currency) to $498 million, helped by an 18% increase in average subscribers to 9.1 million and modest growth in average revenue per user (up 2% to $0.58). Those gains were led by the company's popular Tinder app, which saw average subscribers soar more than 40% year over year to 5.2 million.
On the bottom line, Match Group's net earnings attributable to shareholders declined 3% to roughly $128 million, or $0.43 per share. But analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $489 million.
What's more, Match Group expects third-quarter revenue between $535 million and $545 million, good for growth of 21.6% at the midpoint and above estimates for around $521 million.
