What’s Next for Disney After a Record Quarter?

Shares of Disney (NYSE:DIS) started Monday off trading about 1.5 percent lower. News that the entertainment empire is undergoing an internal cost-cutting review could be affecting the stock price, as people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that one the the results of the review could be layoffs, and speculation indicates the company has some difficult obstacles to overcome.

Didn’t Disney log record profits last quarter?

To quote Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger from the company’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2012 report: “Fiscal 2012 was a great year creatively, financially and strategically, resulting in record revenue, net income, and earnings per share.”

So to answer the question: yes. Diluted EPS for the quarter grew 17.2 percent year over year to $0.68, while full-year EPS grew 24 percent to $3.13. Revenues for the quarter climbed 3 percent year over year to $10.7 billion, matching the growth rate for full-year revenues, which hit $42.2 billion.

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The big news, of course, was Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm. Long-term investors (and hopeful but tepid fans) are looking ahead to 2015, when the next installment of the “Star Wars” franchise is expected to be released.

But the strong quarter masks some of the difficulties the company faces…