Disney 1st-Quarter Earnings Expected to Be Almost Static

Walt Disney Co.’s fiscal first-quarter earnings will be little changed from a year earlier, as film profits stretch to meet last year’s records, analysts said Monday.

Disney’s earnings, which could be announced as early as today, are expected to be 92 cents a share, up only slightly from 91 cents a year ago, according to analysts’ consensus estimate.

But the year-earlier total included a gain of 6 cents a share from restructuring of the Euro Disney theme park. Comparing earnings from operations, Disney’s results in the latest quarter are expected to be up about 8%--still a fairly small increase for the entertainment giant.

Disney films are performing well at the box office, but the company’s film division had a record first quarter the year before. That quarter included the hit “The Santa Clause” and the video release of the studio’s classic “Snow White.”

Analyst Jessica Reif of Merrill Lynch & Co. predicted that quarterly operating income from Disney’s film division will be little changed at about $441 million.

Reif also expects the company’s theme park earnings to be up 14% in the latest quarter and consumer products earnings to be up 17%.

But expenses will also be up, she said, in part because of the pending purchase of Capital Cities/ABC.

Nonetheless, Disney on Monday said its board raised the quarterly dividend on the stock by 22%, to 11 cents a share from 9 cents.