Competition In Video Streaming Intensify

Today is the big day for the long-awaited Disney+ streaming service from The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) , marking its bid for a piece of the home entertainment space in direct competition with Netflix (NASDAQ: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 Corporation (NYSE:CBS) , 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 (NYSE: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 (NYSE: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.