There has been reported a drop of 17 percent in the fourth quarter profit at Walt Disney Co., because of the poor U.S. performances from movies and DVD sales.
On the other hand, the networks owned by Disney, the sports channel ESPN and the broadcaster ABC, together with the parks and the resorts business have gained percents, showing improvement.

The shares of the company in the last days have dropped more than 2 percents in light trade, after the company certified a drop in net income to 379 million dollars or 19 cents a share.

Still, the revenue rose to 7.734 billion dollars, from 7.543 billion dollars the precedent year.

The analyst David Miller, working for Sanders Morris Harris, says: "overall, I'm pleased with what they did on the bottom line". And than he added that Disney should have surpassed earnings expectations through growth of its underlying businesses than one-time items, mentioning also "that could be depressing shares in the after-hours trade".

A high loss posted Disney movie studio, a loss that has reached 313 million dollars in the quarter, considering the profit of 23 million dollars, a year earlier. The poor performance of some movies of Miramax unit and the slow sale of DVDs are to blame for the loss.

Referring to the fiscal year 2006, Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said Disney is expected to have a double-digit earnings growth. In the same time, they expect a solid growth from the ads sales for successful ABC series like "Lost" or "Desperate Housewives".