Disney shares slid about 4% this week, closing near $101 on Thursday, Oct. 1. A fresh round of layoffs, a lower Goldman Sachs price target and new Disney+ price hikes are all part of the picture.
It’s been a rough week for anyone watching Disney’s stock price.
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) fell about 3% on Thursday, Oct. 1, per TradingKey, closing around $101.41, per Traders Union. That’s down from $105.70 at Monday’s close, per Ad Hoc News, a drop of roughly 4% in four trading days.
The stock is also on track for its seventh losing month of 2026, per Stocktwits, and is down about 6% for the year.
No single piece of news explains the drop. A few stories hit at once.
Did Disney’s layoffs affect the stock?
They’re part of the picture, per TradingKey.
Disney cut about 300 jobs in human resources and technology in late September, per TheWrap. It’s the company’s third round of cuts in 2026 under CEO Josh D’Amaro, after about 1,000 jobs in April and more in July at Pixar, National Geographic and ESPN, per Stocktwits.
Cost cuts can help profits over time. In the short run, though, TradingKey said the restructuring has created “short-term trading uncertainty.”
On Thursday, Disney president Dana Walden called the layoffs “extremely painful” at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference. She also said the industry’s changes will keep coming.
Why did Goldman Sachs lower its Disney price target?
On Sept. 28, Goldman Sachs cut its Disney price target from $144 to $140, per Investing.com. It kept its Buy rating.
Goldman pointed to slightly lower expectations for EBITDA, a common measure of operating profit. It flagged a few soft spots, per Investing.com:
Weaker streaming advertising
More spending on local content around the world
Softer theme park attendance in Asia
A $4 trim is small, and $140 is still well above where the stock trades. But when a big bank lowers its target, it can weigh on sentiment for a few days.
Are Disney+ price increases hurting the stock?
Investors are watching them closely.
Disney announced new streaming prices on Sept. 23, per Stocktwits. Disney+ with ads is going from $11.99 to $12.49 a month, and Disney+ Premium is going from $18.99 to $21.49.
Higher prices can raise profits. They can also push some people to cancel. TradingKey said investors are weighing those margin gains “against potential subscriber churn.”
What else is weighing on Disney stock?
A few bigger, slower problems, per TradingKey:
Cable TV keeps shrinking. Cord-cutting is eating into the old, high-profit TV networks.
The box office has been mixed. The live-action Moana is projected to have lost money this summer, and Walden addressed it Thursday.
Legal news. A federal judge in Delaware paused Disney’s antitrust lawsuit against tech company InterDigital, per Traders Union.
What do analysts expect from Disney stock?
Most are still positive. Analysts tracked by TradingKey have an average price target of about $127, with targets ranging from $88 to $144.
Disney’s next earnings report, for its fiscal fourth quarter, is expected in November. Wall Street expects earnings of about $1.66 per share, per Zacks via Yahoo Finance.
What’s coming up for Disney in October?
The Motley Fool pointed to three dates:
Oct. 7: Disney reveals details of the Disney Believe, its ninth cruise ship, in a livestream from the Disney Wish.
Oct. 9: An ESPN Films documentary about Stephen Curry, shot with IMAX cameras, opens in IMAX theaters.
Oct. 16: Whalefall, a thriller from 20th Century Studios, hits theaters.
The bigger test comes in December, when Avengers: Doomsday opens on Dec. 18.
This article is for information only and isn’t investment advice.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
TradingKey (Oct. 1, 2026), Thursday’s 3% drop, contributing factors and analyst targets
Traders Union (Oct. 1, 2026), Thursday close and the InterDigital ruling
Ad Hoc News (Sept. 28, 2026), Monday close
Investing.com (Sept. 28, 2026), Goldman Sachs price target cut
Stocktwits (Sept. 29, 2026), losing-month streak, year-to-date decline, layoff history and Disney+ prices
TheWrap (Oct. 1, 2026), layoff count and Walden’s comments
Zacks via Yahoo Finance (2026), quarterly earnings estimate
The Motley Fool (Oct. 1, 2026), October dates for Disney investors
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