Walt Disney Co. is an international media conglomerate that has been exponentially growing its business. In the fiscal 2017 year, it received over $55 billion in revenue from its wide variety of business ventures and investments (Trefis Team, 2017). The annual report that the corporation releases is a critical assessment of the company’s solvency and financial performance. Also, it offers an insight into the company’s operations and future business decisions. Despite evident profitability, it is essential to continuously evaluate the financial conditions created in Disney’s structure and investments in order to ensure that the company is heading in the right direction.
The first part of the annual report discussing segments of the company’s operation is especially relevant for Disney, which has increasingly focused on diversifying its business model. Disney’s focus on spreading into various segments of entertainment and media while maintaining a unifying platform is a sensible economic decision. While the majority of revenue comes from its media and network branches, the corporation invests in new areas and franchises, which will support the corporation’s solvency for decades (Koslosky, 2015).
However, a large number of investments has caused the company’s revenue to decline year over year, which has caused some concern amongst shareholders who often seek short-term profitability, which an annual report outlines.
The annual report provides some vital financial ratios that are used by a variety of parties, including shareholders, executives, and creditors, which establish the company’s fiscal stability. The operating margin for Disney continues to drop due to declining cable subscriptions but will stabilize as it invests in streaming platforms. The company’s net margin has always been financially sound as it takes on debt very carefully and maintains a consistently low debt-to-equity ratio.
Return on equity is a measure important for investors since it represents the company’s earnings in equity investments. Furthermore, return on invested capital is the company’s profitability over its diversified investments using its considerable capital (Blokhin, 2016).
References
Blokhin, A. (2016). Disney’s four key financial ratios (DIS). Web.
Koslosky, J. (2015). Walt Disney Co.’s biggest strength: Diversification. Web.
Trefis Team. (2017). Disney’s fiscal 2017 in the review. Web.