Competition in Video Streaming Intensify

Today is the big day for the long-awaited Disney+ streaming service from The Walt Disney Company DIS, marking its bid for a piece of the home entertainment space in direct competition with Netflix NFLX. Disney’s library is already vast — consisting of Disney and Pixar films, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic — is aggressively priced at $7 per month, $70 per year. Compare this with Netflix’s $12.99 per month.

Disney also reports 12 original films and programs at its launch today. In total, 500 films and 7500 TV episodes will be on offer initially. Further, Disney+ will also offer a bundled service, including Hulu and ESPN+ along with the main streaming service, for a reported $13 per month. Hulu will be the key to what Disney calls a $50 billion digital ad market by 2022.

Since Disney+ was first announced, shares of DIS have climbed more than 17%, while Neflix has fallen 18%. Disney shares remain up toward all-time highs, and its bold decision to cater to “cord-cutters” in the cable TV world look to benefit in the near term. Shares are up 1% in today’s pre-market.

CBS CorporationCBS, perhaps feeling the brunt of such streaming-related developments elsewhere helping lead to its Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) rating ahead of its Q3 release, where it topped estimates on its bottom line by 4 cents to 95 cents a share. Revenues of $3.30 billion came up 2.15% short of expectations, however; $1.24 per share on $3.26 billion in revenues were reported in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of CBS had been down 10.4% year to date, and have fallen an additional 1.86% a half-hour before the opening bell. For more on CBS’ earnings, click here.

Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated D.R. Horton DHI outperformed fiscal Q4 estimates on both top and bottom lines, beating earnings by a dime to $1.35 per share (up from $1.22 in the year-ago quarter) on $5.04 billion that topped the $4.84 billion expected (+11.7% year over year). Homebuilding revenues rose 10%, closings were up 9% and its Financial Services segment gained 32% from its fiscal Q4 2018 totals. For more on DHI’s earnings, click here.

Dean Foods Files Chapter 11

Founded 94 years ago, dairy processor Dean Foods DF has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 this morning, the day earnings expectations were expected. The company has managed to secure $850 million in financing (debtor-in-possession), and deliveries are expected to continue going forward. Shares had fallen from $4.13 per share as 2019 began to 80 cents per share as of Monday afternoon’s close. The company had badly missed earnings estimates four quarters in a row.

Click to get this free report CBS Corporation (CBS) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Dean Foods Company (DF) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research