EARNINGS : Disney Earnings Up a Roaring 27%

Walt Disney Co. reported a 27% higher quarterly profit Tuesday, helped by the home video success of “The Lion King,” which nearly doubled results in the company’s filmed entertainment business.

With merchandise and theme park-resort profits also higher, Disney earned $315.5 million, or 60 cents a share, in the January-March quarter, the second in its fiscal year. That compares to second-quarter earnings of $248.4 million, or 45 cents a share, in 1994.

Revenue rose 28%, from $2.2 billion to $2.9 billion.

The results were at the upper end of analysts’ estimates, which had ranged from 53 cents to 60 cents per share, but investors apparently had hoped for even better. Disney shares closed unchanged at $55.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Operating profit from films, television programming and video sales climbed 92% to $307 million in the quarter; revenue rose 41% to $1.56 billion.

Securities analyst Jeffrey Logsdon, who follows the Burbank-based company for Siedler Cos., said “The Lion King” generated nearly half of studio profits. While home video is the biggest contributor to results, expansion also continues in such areas as the Disney Channel, up from 7.7 million subscribers a year ago to 12.4 million today, he pointed out.

As recently as 1991, the filmed-entertainment division’s operating profit for the entire year was $318 million, a level it is now approaching in a single quarter, Logsdon said.

In addition to “The Lion King” domestically, Disney benefited from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in international home video release. “The Lion King” was setting records in foreign theaters, and domestic showings of “Pulp Fiction” and “The Santa Clause” were strong, Disney said.

The company attributed higher theme park attendance to new attractions, including the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and the new Tomorrowland, all at Walt Disney World in Florida, as well as the Indiana Jones Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland in Anaheim.

Revenue from theme parks and resorts rose 11% to $891.9 million, with operating profit up 20% to $182 million.

However, the company said it lost $33.1 million in the quarter at Euro Disney, its 39%-owned theme park outside Paris.

Consumer product sales rose 28% to $473 million, with operating income up 20% at $117 million.