Take Disney. Theme parks have either been shuttered or partially reopened for most of the year, and that is putting massive pressure on the company’s biggest free-cash-flow-generating business, not to mention the blow to Disney’s movie production business. toward streaming with Disney+ has been its saving grace. So much so that Disney saw a 60% market cap gain since the end of March, and the stock hit fresh all-time highs last week.
Netflix has been part of the so-called “COVID trades” this year as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the stay-at-home culture shift. The stock is up a whopping 38% from the March lows, adding $56 billion in market cap during that time. Then there are the telecom giants turned media giants like Verizon and AT&T. As much as AT&T is a media company with its ownership of WarnerMedia, the bulk of its revenue still comes from its wireless business.