Morgan Stanley lifts target for Warner Bros. Discovery stock

Published on 10/07/2026 at 15:01 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS

Warner Bros. Discovery stock gets a USD 31.00 target after a USD 2.00 rise. Streaming revenue topped USD 3.00 billion in the second quarter of 2026.

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Warner Bros. Discovery stock is tied to Morgan Stanley's target increase from USD 29.00 to USD 31.00, announced in a September 21, 2026 analyst note. The company also reported over USD 3.00 billion in streaming revenue and USD 512.00 million in adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2026.

Target rises as merger advances

According to ScanX News on September 21, 2026, Morgan Stanley kept an Equal Weight rating while raising its target from USD 29.00 to USD 31.00. The USD 2.00 increase implies a 6.90 percent uplift from the prior target, calculated against USD 29.00.

The immediate corporate backdrop is the planned combination with Paramount Skydance. MarketBeat reported on October 6, 2026 that Paramount Skydance had announced a post-merger leadership team, while David Zaslav and Luis Silberwasser were set to depart and JB Perrette was expected to take a senior role.

Streaming supplies the operating proof

The latest operating figures show why streaming remains central to the investment case. Benzinga published the second-quarter call transcript, in which management said streaming revenue exceeded USD 3.00 billion for the first time and adjusted EBITDA reached USD 512.00 million.

The streaming result marked an improvement of over 60.00 percent in adjusted EBITDA from the same period in 2025. Subscriber-related revenue growth accelerated to 10.00 percent excluding foreign exchange effects, while the adjusted EBITDA margin approached 17.00 percent. Those figures contrast with the studio segment's uneven film slate and make recurring streaming profitability the clearest operating counterweight to merger execution risk.

High valuation meets mixed results

MarketBeat reported that Warner Bros. Discovery reached a USD 30.99 52-week high on October 6, 2026 and had a USD 77.7 billion market capitalization. The same report cited a consensus Hold rating and an average target of USD 28.61, placing the consensus target USD 2.38 below that high.

The second-quarter consolidated figures were mixed. According to Yahoo Finance on October 5, 2026, revenue was USD 8.72 billion, down 11.20 percent year over year, while earnings per share of USD 0.06 compared with USD 0.63 a year earlier. Revenue also came in below the USD 9.29 billion consensus estimate, a shortfall of USD 0.57 billion.

Merger execution sets the next test

Warner Bros. Discovery therefore presents two competing signals: streaming has reached a USD 512.00 million adjusted EBITDA contribution, while consolidated revenue declined 11.20 percent in the latest reported quarter. For investors, the key question is whether the planned leadership transition and merger process can preserve streaming's growth while the studio and linear businesses absorb their weaker comparisons.