SeaWorld Entertainment ( NYSE: SEAS ) broke higher in early trading after edging past consensus marks with its Q4 earnings report .
The theme park operator said results for Q4 would have been even better if it weren't for significant adverse weather impacts in most of its markets during the November and December holiday period, and the negative impact of Hurricane Ian in October and Hurricane Nicole in November. SeaWorld estimated that the combined weather-related impacts reduced attendance by approximately 249K guest visits during the quarter.
Total revenue per capita increased 5.7% to a record $79.10 during the quarter. Admission per capita increased 4.5% to a record $45.63, while in-park per capita spending increased 7.2% to a record $33.47. Guest attendance was down slightly in Q4, but was still 5.1% higher than the prepandemic level seen in 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA was $153.7M vs. $152.8M a year ago.
CEO outlook: "Our pricing power, strategies, investments and opportunities around revenue management, in-park food and beverage, retail and other in-park guest spending give us confidence in our ability to continue to grow total per caps. These factors, along with the work we are doing to better manage and reduce costs, combined with the significant investments we are making across our parks and business, give us high confidence in our ability to continue to deliver operational and financial improvements that we expect will lead to meaningful increases in shareholder value."
Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment ( SEAS ) gained 1.70% premarket to $65.10.
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SeaWorld tops estimates despite weather disruptions in Q4