The Walt Disney Company (DIS), Time Warner Inc (TWX), Starz (STRZA): And The Winners Are…!!!

The Super Bowl generates lots of stock ideas: electronics, commercials, and snack stocks, among others. But for many cinephiles and fashionistas, the Oscars are the Super Bowl — with only slightly more coherent winner interviews.

The Silver Linings Portfolio Playbook

My “Silver Linings” playbook for post-Oscar stock price appreciation includes The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) . Disney was a big winner with best animated short for Paperman, and best animated full-length feature for Brave. Lincoln, which was distributed by Disney, didn’t win Best Picture, but did win Best Actor for Daniel Day Lewis.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) also won by hosting the Oscars on its ABC network, this year and for 7 more years. Will Jack Nicholson still be stepping up to give away Oscars then? Doesn’t matter, because the ad revenue from the Oscars this year hit a record, up to $1.85 million for a 30-second spot. And those ads were sold out more than a month early, as advertisers clamored for the ceremony’s 39 million upscale viewers.

As The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) owns ESPN, amusement parks and resorts, cruises, and very robust entertainment divisions,  it will likely power higher than its 52 week high of $55.95. Disney has a 17.50 P/E and a 1.30% yield.

Despite unprecedented pre-Oscar spending by studios this year, including Disney, Warner Brothers’ Argo won best picture, and Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) will be the beneficiary as curious moviegoers check it out. Movies that have won a major award, like Best Picture, Best Director, or Best Actress and Actor, typically enjoy a post-Oscar bump of millions in revenue. Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) has a 17.15 P/E and a 2.20% yield (ex-dividend Feb.26) with a 1.19 PEG. That’s better than Disney’s 1.41 PEG.

The Weinstein Company is privately held, but connected by a stake in Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA) Series A Liberty Capital . The Weinstein Co. is responsible for both “Silver Linings Playbook,” which received a Best Actress win for Jennifer Lawrence, and “Django Unchained,” which won Best Original Screenplay for director/writer Quentin Tarantino.

Starz, the pay-TV channel, was only recently spun off from Liberty Media Corporation in mid-January, and both are headquartered in Englewood, CO. They still have plenty of overlap in their  management. The spinoff is too recent to properly evaluate until it reports its first independent quarter. It did recently ink a renewal deal with Sony Pictures for that studio’s movie content, in place until 2021; this renewal took one risk to the stock off the table. It also has a deal with Disney until 2015.

Some speculate that John Malone, the big name behind Liberty Media, structured Starz as a takeover target; Liberty Media kept most of the”good stuff,” like stakes in Sirius and Live Nation. Warren Buffett is still a big shareholder in Liberty Media. Both Starz and Liberty Media have fairly low P/Es, and have genius investor Malone behind them.