Disney's stock surges to pace the Dow's gainers on Disney+ launch day

Shares of Walt Disney Co. surged 1.7% in midday trading, to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average's gainers, despite reports of some glitches in the media and entertainment giant's newly launched Disney+ streaming service. Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated her buy rating and $168 stock price target, which is 21% above current levels. In a note titled "Going in big and hot: The Disney+ launch in perspective," Ehrlich said the Disney+ launch makes her "incrementally more bullish on [Disney's] monetization prospects beyond the legacy Pay TV model." Ehrlich raised her Disney+ subscriber forecast to 90+ million by fiscal 2024 from 60 million. Disney's stock's price gain of $2.38 was adding 16 points to the Dow's price, which was up 47 points. Meanwhile, shares of streaming rivals Netflix Inc. slipped 0.6% and Apple Inc. eased less than 0.1%.

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