Disney shares slip after earnings report, as Covid closures take a toll on parks in Asia

Disney reported higher-than-expected streaming subscriber growth on Wednesday, but warned that it is still seeing the impact of Covid on its theme parks in Asia.

Shares of Disney fell more than 2% in after-hours trading. The stock move comes after the company's shares hit a 52-week low of $104.79 earlier Wednesday.

Disney reported that total Disney+ subscriptions rose to 137.7 million during the fiscal second quarter, higher than the 135 million analysts had forecast, according to StreetAccount.

The company expects Disney+ net adds to be stronger in second half than first half but the rate of change "may not be as large as previously anticipated," CFO Christine McCarthy said during the company's earnings call Wednesday.

"Our strong results in the second quarter, including fantastic performance at our domestic parks and continued growth of our streaming services — with 7.9 million Disney+ subscribers added in the quarter and total subscriptions across all our DTC offerings exceeding 205 million — once again proved that we are in a league of our own," said CEO Bob Chapek in a statement Wednesday.

Investors were keen to see Disney's subscription numbers after Netflix reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers during its most recent quarter, its first decline in paid users in more than a decade. The company forecast a global paid subscriber loss of 2 million for the second quarter.

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