Disney Shares See Gains as Optimism Rings on California Disneyland Reopening

Disney saw its shares rise on Monday after Wall Street learned that California had posted new guidance that would allow amusement parks in the state to reopen on April 1st.

Disneyland as well as other parks in the state had been closed for about a year because of the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions that had been imposed.

Disney may also now see a gain its movie business ahead as movie theaters may also start to reopen across the country. More theaters in North America have been opening up, with 45% of theatres in the region open over the past weekend, compared with 42% the weekend prior, according to Comscore.

Shares exploding on Monday helped the company reach a market cap of over $366 billion.

The rally added more than $21 billion to Disney’s market cap, bringing it to $366.5 billion.

Disney has not yet provided a reopening date for its California parks, but Disney and other theme park owners, including Universal Studios owner NBCUniversal, have been asking California officials to allow for a limited reopening for some time.
California’s new guidance permits amusement parks to reopen beginning April 1 with 15% to 35% capacity depending on the prevalence of the virus in the community. Masks and other health precautions will be required.

With the shutdown of the theme park, Disney had laid off tens of thousands of workers and had said that its parks and experiences sector saw a 53% dip in revenue in the December quarter compared with last year, at $3.58 billion. The company also revealed that coronavirus-related closures cost the division about $2.6 billion in lost operating income for the quarter.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.