Disney net beats Street view as parks do well

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co posted on Tuesday a quarterly profit far ahead of Wall Street targets on strong results at its theme park, media and consumer products groups, sending its shares up about 5 percent.

Disney's media networks business saw a drop in costs as a result of the Writers Guild of America strike, which began about a month into the quarter, but so far no negative impact on ad sales, Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs told reporters on a conference call.

"Our bookings are modestly ahead of last year at this point and we are pleased with their performance so far," Staggs said. "Pricing on hotel (rooms) is slightly ahead of last year."

Net profit dropped to $1.25 billion, or 63 cents per share, from $1.7 billion, or 79 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter, when results had been boosted by the sale of interests in Us Weekly and E! Entertainment. Revenue rose 9 percent to $10.5 billion.

"It's a great beat, I'm most focused on the attendance level at the theme parks, as well as what their comments will be about business conditions going forward," said Matt Kaufler, portfolio manager at Clover Capital Management.

Its media networks operating profit rose 28 percent to $908 million, parks profit rose 25 percent to $505 million, studio income dropped 15 percent to $514 million, but consumer products showed a 38 percent rise in profit to $322 million.

Shares in after-hours trade rose to $31.50 from a close of $30.07 on the New York Stock Exchange, where the stock had dropped 83 cents, or 2.7 percent, for the day.

(Reporting by Gina Keating; Editing by Braden Reddall)