What happened
It was another good day for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD -1.07%) as the stock was up 4.1% on Tuesday at 3:08 p.m. ET. It had been up as high as 6.8% midday. It is the second day in a row that the entertainment company was a market mover, as it was up more than 3% Monday.
What drove its stock higher on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both in the red?
So what
For starters, Warner Bros. Discovery has gotten a jolt from the success of its film DC League of Super-Pets, which finished first at the box office in its opening weekend, raking in $23 million last weekend. It is roughly in line with the amount of money Universal's animated film The Bad Guys made on its opening weekend in April, and that went on to make $246 million worldwide.
DC League of Super-Pets could have some legs as it's late in the summer and there aren't many blockbusters on the horizon until October.
But now investors may be turning their focus to the entertainment company's upcoming second-quarter earnings report on Thursday. It is the first full-quarter report since the company formed after AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and it merged with Discovery, which runs the Discovery Channel.
Now what
Obviously, the Aug. 4 earnings release is on the immediate horizon for Warner Bros. Discovery. There have been rumors of layoffs swirling, but there is also much anticipation for not only earnings but plans moving forward in the newly merged entity.
For instance, the Warner Bros. Discovery property HBO will release its much-anticipated House of the Dragon series on Aug. 21. This is the prequel to the highly successful Game of Thrones series.
The stock is trading at $16 per share with a price-to-earnings ratio of 7, but a forward P/E of 21, indicating the market is expecting significant growth.
