RBC Capital Markets analyst Steven Cahall said he will be following Disney’s stock today in the wake of the news that ESPN is laying off some on-air personalities from TV and radio. The news "might be seen as a bellwether to how sensitive media investor nerves are as we think Disney and ESPN are the standard bearers.” Cahall says that ESPN should not be considered a drag on Disney’s stock performance “if the EBITDA/cash flow is considered to be stable, but not necessarily growing, so it will be interesting to see if investors take this is as a sign of proactive profitability or a sign that cord cutting/shaving is forcing the company's hand on cost." Cahall: "A year ago we think investors had a pretty bearish bias on media and Disney that would have almost certainly meant the latter (and sent the stock down), but profitability has held up better than expected so we think most investors are now more neutral on the space.” At presstime, shares of Disney were trading at $110.27 per share, down 0.4% from the close of business yesterday.
