SIX - Six Flags stock rides lower as rising ticket prices hurt attendance

Six Flags ( NYSE: SIX ) shares slid sharply in premarket trading on Thursday after lower attendance led to earnings that fell short of expectations.

For the third quarter, the company blamed lower attendance into the quarter for a 21% decrease in revenue compared to third quarter 2021 which it was not able to entirely offset by price increases, which instead actually hurt overall park attendance. As such, both EPS and revenue reports failed to meet Wall Street consensus expectations . Adjusted EBITDA also fell $53M from the prior year to $226M, well short of the $259.1M expected by analysts.

“The lower attendance was driven by an increase in ticket prices and elimination of free tickets and heavily-discounted product offerings,” the company explained.

Nonetheless, CEO Selim Bassoul remained confident in the road ahead for the company as it seeks to turn the page on a difficult year.

"This was a year of transition for Six Flags, as we made bold changes to our business model in order to elevate the guest experience and to position the company for sustainable, long-term earnings growth," he said. "While it will take time to achieve our ambitious goals, we are encouraged by our recent progress, with guest spending per capita up nearly 50 percent year-to-date relative to 2019, and with attendance trends and season pass sales significantly accelerating in October and early November.”

Shares of the Texas-based theme park fell 2.56% in premarket trading on modest volume.

Dig into the details of the results .

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