Disney CEO Bob Iger seems to have reignited the media giant’s magic, with several Wall Street firms turning more favorable on the stock after it unveiled plans for a theme park in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
This would be Disney’s seventh theme park.
Shares gained about 13% over the past two sessions through Thursday’s close, with Morgan Stanley, UBS, Barclays and Loop Capital all raising price targets on the stock to between $120 to $125 per share.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 105.12 | +3.03 | +2.97% |
This implies an upside of 19% from current levels. Before the news, Disney shares were down 17% for 2025.
“It was very obvious to us that there were many people, basically hundreds of millions, in the world that are income-qualified where a trip to one of our six locations was pretty lengthy in nature and expensive. And so we felt the best way, obviously, to reach those people is to basically bring our product to them,” Iger said during the company’s earnings call.
“We talk about it being at [the] crossroads of the world: 500 million income-qualified people live within four hours; 120 million people will come through Dubai and Abu Dhabi this year alone. Abu Dhabi estimates that 39 million tourists will visit Abu Dhabi by 2030. That says a lot,” he said.
While Iger said there are no immediate plans for an eighth park, he did not rule it out at some point as the company has previously discussed “turbocharging that business with investment capital.”
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Miral Group, based in Abu Dhabi, will develop the project.
First-quarter results were also stronger than expected with revenues rising 7% to $23.6 billion while adjusted earnings per share were $1.45. The media giant also lifted its annual forecast to $5.75, up from $5.30.
Disney also plans to invest $30 billion in the Florida and California parks, this as Universal plans to take on Disney with its new park set to open mid-May at Universal Orlando Resort, the largest U.S. theme park to open in two decades.
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Iger returned to the CEO suite after a short stint in retirement, following a brief tenure of tumult with former CEO Bob Chapek marked by political clashes with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and employee backlash, among other challenges.
He and his board then successfully defeated activist investor Nelton Peltz in a proxy battle that cleared the way to return to the basics.
“I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our board and management,” Iger said in April 2024, adding that the company was “eager to focus 100% of our attention” on “growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers” now that the proxy battle has ended.
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