This Comic Stock Put on Mickey Mouse Ears and Instantly Jumped 97%... Is It Already Overhyped?

Nobody (and I mean nobody) had “digital comics stock doubles in a day” happening before we get GTA 6. Yet here we are.

Webtoon Entertainment just pulled off the kind of overnight flip every broke college kid dreams about. The digital comics giant’s stock yeeted up as much as 97% on August 13th after dropping a double-whammy… actual profits and a Disney deal. 

Based on the fundamentals, this wasn’t supposed to happen. In fact, Wall Street was basically writing Webtoon’s obituary. Analysts were preparing everyone for a -14 cent loss per share… but instead, Webtoon pulled a sneaky +7 cent profit on $348M in revenue. Meaning: not only did they beat expectations, they made actual money while everyone was betting they’d light more cash on fire. That’s a pretty strong flex for a stock that’s been the market’s favorite punching bag since its IPO… down 55% this year before pulling this comeback.

Then came the news every CEO could ever dream of: a deal with freakin’ Disney. Starting soon, Webtoon users will be scrolling past Spider-Man, The Avengers, and even Luke Skywalker in their feeds. The rollout begins with a few free titles, but Disney plans to scale it up to 100 premium drops. Meaning: Disney instantly plugs into Webtoon’s 155 million monthly active users (a Gen Z-heavy audience that practically lives online), while Webtoon gets the credibility of slapping Mickey Mouse ears on its platform.

So what does this signal? Essentially, that Webtoon might finally be more than a quirky comics app. The real play here is intellectual property. Webtoon is an IP factory, cranking out stories that can be spun into films, TV, and merch. With Disney now funneling content through the platform, the flywheel looks far stronger… Disney lends credibility, Webtoon brings eyeballs, and both sides stand to profit. It’s not hard to imagine Webtoon becoming a breeding ground for the next breakout franchise.

And the business model deserves some attention too. Webtoon’s “freemium” approach is sticky: you can wait for episodes to unlock, or you can pay in Coins (yes, actual Coins… like Mario) to binge ahead. Add in ads, licensing revenue, and brand crossovers, and suddenly you’ve got multiple streams stacking up.

Now, before we crown Webtoon the Amazon of comics, let’s calm down just for a second. Even after the huge rally, analysts aren’t racing to upgrade the stock. Eight cover it right now: four Buys, four Holds. And their average price target sits at $11.57… which, awkwardly, is 34% below where the stock closed after the news. My take on that is: the pros think investors just overpaid for the Disney bump. And I don’t totally disagree. At this point, it’s all about what Webtoon does with the momentum. If they can take Disney’s IP and convert it into consistent engagement (while proving their “Coins” system can scale) then you’ve got the beginnings of a real growth engine. But they need to prove it actually works in the real world and not just theory to justify a buy.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Disney and Amazon as mentioned in the article.