Disney still has the magic

If there’s a recession, Disney (DIS) isn’t seeing it. The media-and-theme-parks giant roared past Wall Street’s estimates Tuesday evening, posting a 29% rise in comparable per-share earnings. Disney made $1.25 billion, or 63 cents a share, for the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 29, compared with the year-ago $1.7 billion, or 78 cents a share. Excluding a gain in last year’s quarter tied to Disney’s sale of equity investments in E! Entertainment and Us Weekly, earnings rose to 63 cents from 49 cents a year earlier, handily beating the 52-cent analyst consensus estimate. Revenue rose 10% from a year ago in media networks and 11% in parks and resorts, while the studio entertainment unit posted flat revenue.

“We’ve started off 2008 with another outstanding quarter, marked by strong creative and operational performances,” said CEO Robert A. Iger, who recently signed a new five-year contract. “These results once again highlight the quality of our content and our unique ability to leverage it across our many businesses and territories.” Disney shares surged 4% in late trading, more than reversing the stock’s Tuesday afternoon decline. The solid results hark back to a comment Iger made last fall, when recession worries were starting to pick up.

“People have not stopped or slowed down when it comes to taking family vacations,” Iger said at a September conference, Bloomberg reports. “Some people will keep the family vacation and not replace a faulty refrigerator. That’s an interesting phenomenon.”  And, for Disney, a profitable one.