I’m a Financial Advisor: The Pros and Cons of Buying Disney Stock Right Now
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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A big reason Disney became one of the world’s most enduring and recognizable brands is that it has always been quick to adapt to changing trends and technologies. The entertainment giant is still doing that today, more than a century after it was launched by Walt Disney and his brother Roy.
For the most part, Disney’s willingness to evolve with the times has been a boon to its stock price. That hasn’t been the case lately, though.
Is Disney a buy or sell right now? Here’s what a financial expert had to say.
Sluggish Stock Price
First, the bad news: Disney shares are down about 2% over the past year even as the broader markets have delivered decent returns, with the S&P 500 rising about 11% over the same time frame.
On a more positive note, Disney’s stock did get a slight bump on Dec. 11 when the company made a major move into artificial intelligence by signing a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI.
As part of that deal, Disney will become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform. The agreement also calls for Disney to make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and become a “major customer” of OpenAI, according to a press release.
But Disney’s current stock price of around $110 a share is concerning to Chad Cummings, an attorney and certified public accountant (CPA) at Cummings & Cummings Law who previously worked in finance and tax.
“The current price makes me cautious rather than aggressive,” Cummings told GOBankingRates. “I would not treat it as a low-risk, ‘buy and forget’ [stock] at that level because execution risk remains the investment story.”
‘Mixed (Financial) Bag’
Financially, Disney remains a solidly profitable company that continues to grow its business. Its fiscal 2025 operating income rose 12% from the prior year to $17.6 billion, according to a fourth-quarter earnings release. Annual revenue gained 3% to $94.4 billion.
“Disney’s financial picture looks improved, but it is still a mixed bag,” Cummings said. “The best opportunity remains monetizing intellectual property across multiple cash engines. The parks and experiences business produced record operating income in fiscal 2025, and streaming has moved into profitability, which matters because it changes the narrative from ‘subsidize forever’ to ‘scale margins.'”
Potential Headwinds
One of Disney’s major challenges is competition. In streaming services, it competes with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple. In theme parks, its main competition comes from Universal.
The streaming segment could face a potential 800-pound gorilla if Netflix succeeds in its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, though that deal has been complicated by a competing bid from Paramount Skydance, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“The Netflix, Warner Bros. and Paramount situation affects Disney through pricing and bundling pressure,” Cummings said. “Competitors can force promotional pricing, ad-load escalation and content spend escalation, which reduces Disney’s margin of safety even when Disney’s brands outperform in demand.”
But that’s not Disney’s biggest headwind, he said. A greater immediate threat might be the rapidly escalating prices Disney’s ESPN subsidiary has to pay for rights to sports programming. There are also macro headwinds, such as the prospect of a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
“Any recessionary pulse hits travel and discretionary spend before it hits subscription churn,” Cummings said. “I am forecasting a moderate market correction in the first half of 2026, which will directly and negatively affect consumer discretionary spend.”
Tread Carefully
So what is Cummings’ call on the Disney stock? He said he would adopt a “defensive accumulation” position.
For investors, it essentially means buying Disney shares cautiously, with the goal of steady and modest growth — and not because you want to make a big short-term profit.
Meanwhile, you should also be on the lookout for economic downturns or market volatility that could send the stock sharply lower.
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