The fires in Los Angeles continue to rage, but the good news is that the winds have died down, allowing firefighters to attempt to control the blaze better.

So far, the devastating fires have killed at least 27 people, burned down over 12,000 buildings, and destroyed more than 60 square miles of land. To put that into perspective, that’s nearly one and a half times the size of the Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida.
Disneyland, just south of the fires, is being used to house over 100 cast members, animators, crew members, and their families who lost everything. Dozens of Disney movies and television show stars also lost their homes in the fires.
With the fires still not under control and Disney employees coping with the loss of everything, it seems like an especially shallow time to discuss how this tragedy will impact Disney’s bottom line when it meets with investors on February 5.

Despite that, Barrons published an article that featured an interview with a stock analyst from Bank of America who commented that the fires in Los Angeles could impact Disney’s stock just before the earnings call.
The analyst, Jessica Reif Ehrlich, mentioned that hurricanes this summer in Central Florida will impact earnings, but she also said that there’s a “risk to guidance due to any possible costs that come from the temporary housing of employees.”
The fires are obviously causing a decline in attendance at Disneyland, but being concerned about that while thousands of Los Angelenos are fighting for their lives is unseemly, at best.

Despite the insensitivity of talking about stock prices when people struggle for their lives, Reif Ehrlich made another point that could negatively affect Disney’s stock outside of natural disasters.
There is a concern among analysts that rising costs are going to hurt Disney’s theme park and cruise businesses. With Donald Trump coming into office on January 20 and promising large tariffs on everything from food to merchandise, Disney can expect a massive increase in costs.
While the coming tariffs deserve their own dive, pairing them with possible losses from the wildfires seems unnecessary and inhumane, especially when so many attached to The Walt Disney Company are struggling.