United Parks & Resorts (NYSE:PRKS), formerly SeaWorld Entertainment, is a theme park and entertainment company. It operates a portfolio of parks across the United States, offering guests experiences with marine life, thrill rides, and other attractions. The company competes with other major operators like Disney and Six Flags for visitor attendance.
An analyst at Stifel Nicolaus has downgraded United Parks & Resorts stock to a "Hold" rating, which suggests investors should maintain their current position without buying or selling shares. A price target of $40.00 was also established. This target implies a potential upside of about 9.5% from the stock's trading price of $36.53 when the rating was issued.
This analyst action follows a challenging first quarter for United Parks & Resorts. As highlighted by Zacks, United Parks & Resorts reported a quarterly loss of $0.69 per share. This is a larger loss than the consensus estimate of $0.36 per share and the $0.29 per share loss from the same period a year ago.
United Parks & Resorts' revenue for the quarter was approximately $278.30 million, a decrease from nearly $287.00 million in the prior-year quarter. As reported by Benzinga, the disappointing results were caused by a decline in attendance. This was attributed to unfavorable weather conditions and a reduction in the number of international visitors.
According to CEO Marc Swanson, as noted by PR Newswire, adverse weather in San Diego, Florida, and Texas reduced guest count by about 140,000. A drop in international visitation accounted for another 80,000 lost guests. Despite these challenges, management noted that in-park per capita spending, or the average amount spent by each guest, grew.
