Marvel Entertainment
Let's start with the easy part: the awesome intellectual properties in Marvel's portfolio. With stalwarts like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America among its five-thousand-plus characters, I'd say Marvel can hold its own amid major media rivals such as Disney
Now for the part of Marvel that isn't necessarily so straightforward. The money made by licensing characters to studios such as Sony
My Foolish colleague Tim Beyers produced an excellent and informative essay on how operating income and valuation may be affected, depending on these Marvel movies' box-office success. For instance, if the upcoming Iron Man only pulls in $100 million in theaters, it might not be a positive contributor to operating income. If it takes in $300 million, however, shareholders could be looking at more than $200 million in operating-income contribution. I find such potential exhilarating.
It's just so much fun following -- and owning -- Marvel. I think it has a bright future ahead of it. The company has taken on more risk with its new Hollywood ambitions, but come on now, isn't love the greatest risk of all? With Ghost Rider set to open in theaters this month, sequels to Spider-Man and Fantastic Four ready for the summer, and a fresh deal with Hasbro
What's sending Fools' hearts aflutter? Go back to our intro page to see what else we have a crush on.
Marvel Entertainment, Time Warner, and Disney are all Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. To see what else Tom and David Gardner have cooking up, try a free 30 day trial of the newsletter.
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns shares of Disney and Marvel Entertainment. As of this writing, he was ranked 16,396 out of 22,022 investors in the CAPS system. Don't know what CAPS is? Check it out. The Fool has a disclosure policy.