Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool
5 min read
This might not be a good time to don my mouse ears. Shares of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) are barely trading higher this year. The stock has lost roughly a third of its value over the past five years. I still think that now is a great time to warm up to the leading media and entertainment company.
I’ve been a Disney shareholder for 40 years. I have now been contributing content to The Motley Fool for 31 years. I wrote about Disney then. I’m writing about Disney now. My conviction has never been higher. The combination of Disney’s pipeline across several categories and its compelling forward valuation makes it a star you can wish upon again.
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There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow
Disney’s business is faring a lot better than its flat stock performance over the past year. Its operations and ugly chart since peaking in early 2021 are passing ships. Disney continues to oversee the world’s most visited theme parks. According to last week’s TEA Global Experiences Index — an annual third-party research report that spells out attendance trends — Disney had nine of the 11 most visited theme parks in the world. Closer to home, it operates the only five theme parks to attract more than 10 million turnstile clicks apiece in the U.S. in 2025.
It’s not just dominant in gated attractions. U.S. movie studios cranked out just six theatrical releases in 2024 and 2025 that topped $1 billion in box office receipts. Disney was responsible for all of them. On the broadcast media front, Disney has written the playbook on navigating the transition from linear to digital distribution. Disney+ — along with Hulu and ESPN — has been collectively profitable for two years. Growth there is more than offsetting the declines of its original cable and over-the-air broadcasting businesses.
The future is bright, pretty much everywhere you look. Even in a rare category where it’s not the dominant player, Disney is coasting. Disney isn’t the largest player in cruise ships, but its ability to charge a premium for its family-friendly experience has made the top dogs envious for years. No one is growing its fleet faster — on a percentage basis — than the Houseboat of Mouse.
Out there
The past is historic, and not just because Disney is a master storyteller. The future could be an even better tale to tell. Its theme parks worldwide are expanding, adding bar-raising experiences that will open in the coming years. It raised admission prices for its domestic attractions last month. This happens every year, but folks keep coming. The elasticity is mesmerizing.
