Will the Deadly Coronavirus Hurt Disney?
As the Wuhan coronavirus begins to spread across China -- with more than 2,700 confirmed cases and 80 deaths as of Sunday -- Disney (NYSE: DIS) is starting to feel the pinch. It shuttered the Shanghai Disney resort on Saturday, and Hong Kong Disneyland followed suit on Sunday. Both resorts are closed indefinitely.
Disney owns sizable but not majority stakes in both theme park resorts, so the downtime will ultimately eat into the fiscal second-quarter results when they are announced in early May. However, there are two questions that will ultimately dictate the financial hit that Disney faces: How long will the parks be closed? Will the deadly virus impact the rest of Disney's operations? No one knows the answer to either question, but the second one is at least worth discussing if you're an investor in the House of Mouse.
Image source: Disney.
Source Fool.com