Pundit: Star Wars Film Could Drive Up Walt Disney Co.

Walt Disney Co. DIS shares could gain 25 percent by year-end on the strength of a Star Wars film it expects to release in December, according to a market pundit. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/star-wars-could-boost-disney-stock-by-25-2015-05-18 Disney agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in 2012 and immediately announced plans to revive the 28-year-old Star Wars franchise, which has so far spawned six films, five related television series, plus countless toys and marketing tie-ins. "There has not been any recent movie release more anticipated than 'The Force Awakens,' " Nigam Arora wrote of the film in a Bloomberg opinion column published Monday. Aroram, a market pundit who offers free seminars on investing in gold and subscriptions to a financial newsletter for $60 a month, said the latest Star Wars offering could boost Disney shares by 25 percent. The film is set for release in December. http://www.starwars.com/the-force-awakens/ "Force Awakens will hit $1 billion without blinking. If it's really good, it could cross $2 billion," box-office analyst Phil Contrino told the Hollywood Reporter recently. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/could-star-wars-open-at-789889 The record for gross box office receipts was hit by "Avatar" at $2.8 billion in 2009. "It is common for movie-studio stocks to run up in anticipation of a major release," Aroram said. "But that doesn't mean Disney is just a straight buy here." Aroram, who didn't make further mention of the pending film release, said investors view Disney a "safe stock." Citing "proprietary algorithms" and "proprietary indicators," there are two scenarios in which it makes sense to buy Disney, according to Aroram. One is "if S&P 500 breaks decisively above 2125," Aroram said. "The second scenario is if Disney closes the up gap made when it reported excellent earnings in the prior quarter." Disney traded recently at $110.68, up $0.35 cents.