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Disney Now World's Largest Media Co

A mid-year report shows that the first six months of 2013 have been good to Hollywood stocks, with Disney overtaking Comcast – for now – as the most valuable media company.

Despite a rough patch in late June, the first six months of 2013 have been very good to Hollywood stocks, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.

Big media companies have all have experienced gains, and all but one of the seven major entertainment conglomerates have outpaced the 10.3 percent rise notched by the S&P 500 in the time period. Many smaller entertainment stocks have trounced that benchmark, with Lionsgate up 66.4 percent to $27.29 and DreamWorks Animation up 46.6 percent thanks to the success of The Croods.

Netflix, which premiered the original series House of Cards, Hemlock Grove and Arrested Development in the first half of 2013, was rewarded with a huge 132.9 percent stock increase to $215.60 (with a market cap of $12.1 billion). A weakness in cable has made Comcast a laggard among conglomerates, though it has bested Time Warner Cable, up 4.1 percent, and Cablevision Systems, up 1 percent.

Still, a meager-by-comparison gain for Comcast has allowed Disney to overtake it -- for now, at least -- as the most valuable media company. Of course, that designation doesn't take into account powerhouse new-media companies such as Apple and Google, which sport market capitalizations of $377.84 billion and $288.57 billion, respectively. Still, analysts believe Hollywood stocks are poised for even more growth through the rest of the year.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.