SeaWorld stock sinks as earnings and attendance miss expectations, but revenue per guest reaches record
Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. sank 8.2% in premarket trading Wednesday after the theme park operator reported third-quarter results that missed expectations, as record revenue per guest wasn't enough to offset attendance that came up below forecasts due in part to adverse weather. Net income rose to $134.6 million, or $1.99 a share, from $102.1 million, or $1.28 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $2.12. Revenue grew 8.4% to $565.2 million, but was below the FactSet consensus of $573.7 million, as admissions revenue rose 5.7% and food, merchandise and other revenue jumped 12.1%. Attendance was up 1.5% from a year ago to 7.3 million guests, but missed the FactSet consensus of 7.7 million. Compared with the same period of pre-pandemic 2019, attendance was down 9.7%. Total revenue per capita increased 6.8% to a record $77.05, above the FactSet consensus of $74.50, while admission revenue per capital rose 4.1% to a record $42.75, beating expectations of $41.60. "We had a meaningful impact from adverse weather in the quarter, including Hurricane Ian, that we estimate led to 90,000 less guest visits during the quarter; international and group visitation are still not back to pre-Covid levels; our staffing is still not at optimized levels; and inflationary pressures continue to impact our costs," said Chief Executive Mark Swanson. The stock has gained 7.2% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has shed 7.1%.
-Tomi Kilgore
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 09, 2022 09:08 ET (14:08 GMT)
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