Diamonds and Dogs

5/14/19

Disney (DIS) getting Hulu back. Disney is trading up nearly 2% after Comcast agreed to give Walt Disney full operational control of the streaming service Hulu. Comcast could sell its remaing one-third stake as soon as 2024. This removes an obstacle for Disney's quest to take on rivals including Netflix. Disney plans to launch its Disney+ service in November of which Hulu will be a big part. Hulu, which competes with Netflix and Amazon.com's Prime Video, currently has more than 26.8 million paid subscribers.

The Polo guy takes a stumble. Ralph Lauren (RL) is down 8% to a three month low following earnings. Earnings actually beat expectations, but sales fell 1.5% to f $1.5 billion. The company said that it increased its marketing budget by 13% in an effort to win over the next generation of customers and focused on growth overseas. European revenue increased 4% to $435 million while Asia revenue grew 6% to $273 million. But the big problem was North America where revenue dropped 7% to $708 million.