Last five years have resulted in an increase in Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) stock of over 233%, which definitely implies a praise for its Chief Executive Officer, Bob Iger. However, things haven’t always been this great for Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) shareholders. There was a huge controversy between Walt Disney’s Nephew, Roy Disney and the Chief Executive Officer of that time, Michael Eisner. This conflict was heavily publicized and as a consequence Eisner had to leave his chairmanship in 2004.  After a year, Eisner bid farewell to the company.

Roy advised the company to consider breaking up Disney theme parks and stores etc.; in order to increase the sales performance. However, shareholders were in luck, since Iger didn’t pay heed to Roy’s advice.Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) conglomerate structure is what holds it together and has been a consistent source of strength for the company.

Furthermore, getting rid of ESPN would have stripped Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS) off its commodification value, especially if ESPN’s astounding network consideration in taken into perspective. Although Iger has done a lot for the growth of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS), however there is one small thing which can be done further; and which would ultimately result into broadening of the company’s investor base. That tiny thing which can change a lot and bring more profits to the shareholders is to pay the dividends on a quarterly basis instead of an annual one.

If Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) previous performances were taken into account then perhaps its paying of dividends on annual basis does make sense. Every company has a distinct payout strategy; but that strategy ought to be in line with the interests of both its shareholders and stakeholders.

A vital question in this regard is that whether or not Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) has enough money to pay the dividend on a quarterly basis. Being a conglomerate, it no longer has to rely upon its theme park and movie studio which run on either a seasonal or a cyclical basis. This fact is reiterated from the financial report of last year, which delineates that Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) earned approximately 56% of its income from ESPN and ABC. Interestingly, these media networks happen to be the very businesses which Roy Disney wanted to give up. Until 1962, the company has indeed been paying dividends on a quarterly basis, however this policy was changed to an annual one, by the year 1999.

The major reason in play behind Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) strategy of paying dividends on an annual basis is the costs. When the company changed its policy from quarterly to annual in 1999, the cost of mailing checks was held responsible for this change. Yet, since Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) has deployed an electronic methodology to issue its shares now; therefore it ought to switch back to dividend pay outs on a quarterly basis. This strategy would make Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS)  attractive and popular among those investors who prefer having their money on quarterly basis, instead of getting it altogether once every year. This option seems to be even more preferable, since now the dividend payout per share has increased from $0.47 to $1.15.

In contrast, Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS)rival entertainment company i.e. Seaworld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:SEAS)has been the victim of a notorious publicity which has also paved way for many financial hardships to follow suit. While Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS) visitors and consequent profits are escalating; SeaworldEntertainment Inc. (NYSE:SEAS) saw a decline in its number of visitors in the year 2014 as compared to people who came in the year 2013. Owing to these reasons, the company’s stock has also suffered and within a year, has gone downhill, by almost 50%.

While both the companies used to be at the summit of American theme parks, what are the reasons which have led to Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS)astounding success and Seaworld Entertainment Inc.’s (NYSE:SEAS)failure in contrast?

Use of Animals for entertainment

There are two significant circuses in America which have still continued their performance and acts. These circuses are Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey respectively. The history of this circus can be traced back almost 133 years. It has continued its trends and hasn’t changed much over the years. Consequently, animals are still deployed there for its three-ring act. However, with changing times, people have started protesting against this. There is one group called PETA which is especially vocal and strongly protests against the deployment of animals for entertainment purposes.These activists have started awareness programs on internet and have also began recruiting followers so that there is huge wave of protest out there.

This continual protest and resentment against the use of animals has led both Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey to quit their elephant act gradually.The companies have claimed that by the year 2018, there would be no elephants left to perform the act. The companies have private estates in Florida which serve as breeding ground for elephants, and this is the place where they would be retired by 2018.

With the growing awareness among people, the use of animals for entertainment purposes has been the focal attention of many negative sentiments. There are speculations that SeaworldEntertainment Inc. (NYSE:SEAS )has been a violator of not only animal rights but also human rights and this fact has played an important role in the company’s bad publicity, resulting in its bad profits.

On the hand, Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS)has continued innovating its attractions and this is what matters at the end. So its continual progress will also have a direct effect on its shares; while Seaworld Entertainment Inc.’s (NYSE:SEAS)shares will probably continue to fall. This assertion will remain sound even if it stops the use of animals, manages to change the public point of view and adds new and innovative attractions; since currently its financial prospects aren’t that bright.

The first quarter brought a surge in Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)’s top of the line businesses such as media, parks and entertainment, etc. Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)’s media networks including cable and broadcasting went up by 11 percent. Though there has been a measles outbreak lately, that hasn’t stopped families visiting the Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) theme parks. The demand for Marvel and Frozen has kept on the surface, still the studio entertainment business dropped down by 2 percent.

The Infinity series wasn’t up to the mark and it reflected from the sales it made. The losses it incurred hurt Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) not in a major way, but things could have been different had the infinity series turned out to be profitable.

The bottom line segments grew on all 5 fronts. Be it consumer goods or media networks; every department made money on the bottom line. The company’s media networks went up by 2 percent because of the 35 percent growth of the broadcasting business. The studio department on the bottom line also grew by 33 percent thanks to the films Frozen and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Having mentioned all this, those investors which are looking for earning quick money should refrain from investing in the stock because Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) doesn’t have anything to offer imminently, or let’s say that it doesn’t have anything major to offer yet. For the long term investors, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is a major stock with a lot of potential and a lot of future prospects.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) has a habit of duplicating its profits from all fronts. The company has a lot to offer, which means there are many vessels from which the company earns. Investors should also bank upon Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)’s reputation which dates back to almost a hundred years. The company has been consistently making money and the naysayers have always corrected themselves whenever they doubted the company’s performance or money making strength.

With almost a dozen Marvel movies in the pipeline, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) will only get stronger as time goes by and investors who will hang on for a longer period will certainly benefit. However, investors who want to bail out with a quick profit won’t find anything here. And in all honesty, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) does not need any of such investors either.

The estimates for Walt Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) earnings have recorded to be at $4.74. If this estimate is multiplied by the current price to earnings ratio of the company, which is 22, the price target of $100 seems achievable.  But then again, no one knows about the future, and a lot can be changed: the market could see a decline or the company could miss its estimates. Where the conditions can go unfavorably, there are some catalysts too that can make the company go even higher.

One of the biggest segments ofWalt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is its entertainment division. It is important to mention here that this segment was responsible for generating around 15 percent of the total revenues that the company posted for the fiscal year 2014. It was also responsible for bringing in almost 12 percent of the total income for operations. The revenues of this segment were up by 22 percent when compared with the figures of last year, and hence, chances are that this segment will continue to see growth in the future as well.

Another plus point that the company has is its parks and resorts segment. This division was responsible for generating around 31 percent of the total revenues that the company reported for the year 2014. The company will be opening up another of its theme parks in the country of China. The Shanghai Disney Resort is scheduled to open in the coming year. This project consumed a total of $5.5 billion. It will have 2 hostels, which will be theme based, together with a recreational spot. The total area of the theme park will be around 1000 acres. This park will be the biggest Disney resort in the region of Asia, as it will be almost 3 times bigger than the one in Hong Kong and twice the size of the one that is in Tokyo.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) has joint ventures in the country of China. In fact, the company is running its parks through these ventures. The company owns around 43 percent of the Shanghai Disney Resort and 48 percent of the Hong Kong Disneyland.

Another segment that looks promising is the interactive division of the company. Although the segment brought in only 2.7 percent of the 2014 revenues, it is growing at a huge rate. The gaming revenue also increased by 30 percent when compared with the figures of last year.

Coming to the stock prices of Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), the company is currently trading in the range of $91.76 and $93.57.

With analyses on what went wrong in the movie to articles on what scientific mistakes were made, a lot of speculations circle in media. Films like Interstellar were targeted to such attention. But the movie’s success is ongoing, with $111 million earned in just ten days. The film stands ahead of Wreak It Ralph, whereas Big Hero 6 managed $10.508 million on Tuesday. It was a big gain, if you put aside Veteran Day earnings history of $11 million earned by The Incredibles. It was also ranked as the biggest non-weekend single day earnings. The film is expected to round up at-least $225 million in the domestic market and a hefty amount of $560 million globally. If the figures go higher than this, the Big Heros 6 will be among the year’s top-grossing films both domestically and globally. Even though new competition is expected to arise by the end of the year with releases like Into the Woods, Annie, Night at the museum 3 and The Hobbit – The battle of the five armies, according to speculations and word-of-mouth, Big Hero 6 will be among the top ten biggest releases of the year.

At this point, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)’s Big Hero 6 has crossed the $100 million mark in the domestic market on its tenth day, which makes it the fastest grossing animation besides Frozen. The Lion King also earned $104 million back in 1994 on the 11^th day. The eleventh day being July 4^th. In its second week Big Hero figures fells by 35% and rounded up to $36.01 million for the second weekend, again the first of its kind to make this much gross on a second weekend. Whether Big Hero is making news or not, or if it’s receiving good reviews from critics or not serves as half the fame a movie comes to manage. it is still a big hit, making a lot of buzz from the shadows. This increases the film’s chances of landing an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category against animations like How to Train your Dragon and The LEGO Movie.

The famous Disney (NYSE:DIS) will be reporting its earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter. The company will announce the report in November, for the fiscal year ’14. Disney ’14 fiscal year ended in September and we hope to see some serious profits and higher achievements, owing to the company’s extra ordinary performance in all fields. The recent success from their “Guardians of Galaxy” played a vital role in uplifting the company’s profits.

Moreover, the blockbuster movie “Maleficent” gave the company strong market growth during the third quarter. This year proved quite fruitful for this entertainment giant, in fact the previous year did not turn out as planned after the failure of “The Lone Ranger”. The sports network ESPN (NYSE:DIS) saw some higher viewership because of the NFL games, but the overall market was down by 2%. However, despite the lower market growth the company managed to keep their revenues up through higher advertisement costs.

But the company has to keep an eye on the progress of their affiliate fees, which at present are not doing so well. However, Disney (NYSE:DIS) said that they will make sure that the progress does not see a decline in the coming quarters. The ABC network (NYSE:DIS) is going through some tough times as well; the channel was hit by 2% drop in overall viewership, whereas, the ratings were not satisfactory at all as well, the company saw a 5% drop in ratings as compared to the previous year.

Despite this, The Disney Channel (NYSE:DIS) did extremely well and was chosen as No. 1 channel with regards to viewership for the kids 2-11 , 6-11 and Tweens 9-14. The Disney Land which is a perfect place for kids and teens, saw increase in their market growth and the company believes it is due to latest key feature i.e. MyMagic+. This is a new ticketing system introduced by Disney (NYSE:DIS) which can be used as a key for your room, coupon for food and beverages.

Disney hopes to increase their growth through this new feature, and they say it will increase the money spend by customers as well. Disney will provide $1.25b for the Euro Disney (EPA:EDL) as the company is trying to uplift Euro Disney’s current status and hopes to increase the number people visiting. ESPN (NYSE:DIS) is in partnership with Disney and has a hand in promoting Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) reputation. ESPN generates its income through two major ways; i.e. advertisement and subscription.

The company has been increasing its subscription fees in order to generate more revenue and to provide productivity. The company will be providing extra support to Disney (NYSE:DIS) through better strategies. At last, the studio department has made a lot of contributions in the company. The recent hits have given an extra boost to Disney (NYSE:DIS). The whole year owes a lot to the blockbuster “Frozen” while, “The Guardians of Galaxy” made a $750 million business. Besides, the company is expecting to make net earnings of $48.4b with earnings per share of almost $94.