管理層發言
Thank you for standing by. My name is Gina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the United Parks & Resorts Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, simply press star 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Matthew Stroud, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the United Parks & Resorts Inc. first quarter earnings conference call. Today's call is being webcast and recorded. A press release was issued this morning and is available on our Investor Relations website at unitedparksinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call. Joining me this morning are Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer, and James Forrester, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning, we will review our first quarter financial results, and then we will open the call to your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those forward-looking statements, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-Ks and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risk factors may be updated from time to time and will be included in our filings with the SEC that are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, on the call, we may reference non-GAAP measures and other financial metrics such as adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. More information regarding our forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measure is included in our earnings release available on our website and can also be found in our filings with the SEC. Now, I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Marc Swanson. Marc?
Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Our first quarter results fell short of our expectations primarily due to unfavorable weather and a decline in international attendance. As many of you likely experienced yourselves, the weather was unfavorable in San Diego and Florida in January and February, and again in Florida and Texas during their peak spring break periods. Our international attendance decline was consistent with the broader United States international tourism declines resulting from geopolitical and other dynamics. Attendance in the first quarter was negatively impacted by approximately 140,000 guests due to weather, and approximately 80,000 guests due to declines in international visitation. Adjusting for these impacts, attendance would have increased more than 1% for the quarter. We delivered another strong quarter of in-park execution, growing our in-park per capita and producing another quarter of record results. We also saw strong pass sales performance during the quarter with paid pass sales up approximately 10% during the quarter and up approximately 12% through 04/30/2026. Looking ahead, our advanced bookings revenue for Discovery Cove and our group business are both currently outpacing 2025 levels, with Discovery Cove bookings up a double-digit percentage. We continue to strongly believe our stock is materially undervalued and, as such, continued to repurchase shares in the first quarter, buying approximately 2.6 million shares for nearly $93 million. This action emphasizes the strong cash flow generation of this company, our longstanding commitment to returning excess cash to our shareholders, and our belief that our shares are materially undervalued. As a reminder, for 2026, we have a truly outstanding lineup of new rides, shows, and attractions, an updated events calendar, an expanded concert lineup, and new and upgraded food and retail locations. All this is supported by a revamped and enhanced marketing plan and strategy. We are confident these planned investments will drive attendance and guest spending across our parks. Despite the headwinds in the first quarter, we are encouraged by our forward indicators and remain committed to delivering strong financial performance and growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA in 2026. I want to thank our ambassadors whose preparation and hard work are vital as we soon enter the busy summer period. I also want to be sure to communicate that we are well aware of and acknowledge the current reality of geopolitical and macro uncertainties and the current level of gas prices in particular, and the potential impact on consumers. As a reminder, we operate a resilient business that offers incredible value to our visitors and we have a long track record of successfully navigating through uncertain and volatile times, including when there is financial pressure on consumers. Because I am sure it is on many of your minds, what I can tell you today is that we cannot obviously see a material slowdown or other issues with our consumers' interest and willingness to spend, especially with the growth in our in-park per cap. We are closely monitoring conditions and are prepared to adjust our plans if we see any changes. For 2026, along with our new rides and attractions, we just recently announced an exciting summer entertainment lineup across several of our parks, including exciting new drone shows, new nighttime animal presentations, and other fun. We believe these additions will be well received and popular with our guests. We are also thrilled to note that Discovery Cove has just been named Newsweek's number one best theme park for 2026 in the publication's Reader's Choice Awards, placing the Orlando destination among the country's top summer travel experiences as voted by Newsweek readers nationwide. Congratulations to Discovery Cove. Now let me give you a brief update on some of our strategic initiatives. On real estate, as discussed on our last call, we have received a number of inbounds on our real estate portfolio. During the first quarter, we enlisted the help of advisers to assist us in managing the interest of the various parties and have recently received the latest round of comprehensive formal proposals from multiple parties. We are currently evaluating these proposals along with the advisers and will update you as and when there is more information to share. On sponsorships, during Q1, we entered into two sponsorship agreements with high-quality brands. Based on our current pipeline, we expect to enter into several more in the coming months and expect to realize over $15 million in sponsorship revenue in 2026. As previously discussed, we expect this business to be at least a $30 million line of business in the coming years. On international, we continue to be in discussions with multiple partners and expect to be able to share more news in the coming quarters. On IP partnerships, we are in multiple active discussions to bring compelling and well-recognized IP into our parks in innovative and exciting ways and with different global partners. Later this year, we expect to have some exciting announcements related to these opportunities in 2026, and in 2027 and beyond. On marketing, we have been making significant changes and enhancements to our plans and strategies. Admittedly, we have had some hiccups in our execution across some of the parks and in corporate as we transition to a more dynamic and ultimately more effective media and marketing model. We have been testing, learning, and making fundamental changes to our media mix, channel and geography allocation, creative, and partners. We expect to improve considerably in our execution over the course of the year and are excited to launch a dedicated SeaWorld brand national campaign across key markets later this month. Please be on the lookout for this first meaningful national campaign from us in many years. We are very excited about this. On cost, we continue to be committed to and make progress on our $50 million gross cost savings target for 2026 that we discussed last quarter. On the technology front, we are actively pursuing various initiatives including implementing AI-powered camera technology, autonomous cleaning robotic technology, more digital ordering kiosks in our food and beverage locations, automated front turnstiles, and automated parking tools to help us deliver more revenue, reduce costs, and improve guest experience. Regarding capital allocation, we continue to benefit from a strong balance sheet and the flexibility to invest in and grow our business and to opportunistically allocate capital with the goal to maximize long-term value for shareholders. Given where our public shares currently trade, we find very compelling value in purchasing our shares and we expect to do so as long as our stock trades at levels we find attractive. When and if we hit a limit on share repurchases, we and our board will consider other forms of capital return including regular and/or special dividends, debt pay down, and other investment opportunities. During the first quarter, we repurchased 2.6 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $92.7 million. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we have repurchased an additional 1.8 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $64.8 million. I am truly excited about the significant investments we are making and the many initiatives we have underway across our business that we are confident will improve the guest experience, allow us to generate more revenue, and make us a more efficient and more profitable enterprise. We are building an even stronger and more resilient business that we expect going forward will deliver improved operational and financial results and increases in value for our stakeholders. With that, James will discuss our financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Marc. During the first quarter, we generated total revenue of $278.3 million, a decrease of $8.7 million when compared to 2025. The decrease in total revenue compared to 2025 was primarily a result of a decrease in attendance, partially offset by an increase in total revenue per capita spending. Attendance for 2026 decreased by approximately 171,000 guests when compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease in attendance was primarily due to unfavorable weather and a decrease in international visitation compared to the prior year quarter. As Marc noted, our attendance would have been up more than 1% adjusted for weather and international. In 2026, total revenue per capita increased 2.1%. Admission per capita decreased 0.5% and in-park per capita spending increased 5.3% to a record $40.62. Admission per capita decreased primarily due to lower realized pricing on certain admission products, and the net impact of the admissions product mix when compared to the prior year quarter. In-park per capita spending improved primarily due to an increase in demand across many in-park offerings when compared to 2025. Operating expenses increased $10 million when compared to 2025. The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to an approximately $3.7 million increase in non-cash self-insurance adjustments and an approximate $3.3 million increase in one-time nonrecurring consulting and other costs when compared to 2025. Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $3.9 million compared to 2025. The increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses is primarily due to a non-cash $3.1 million increase in information technology costs, primarily related to the amortization of a new enterprise resource planning system when compared to 2025. We reported a net loss of $34.1 million for the first quarter compared to a net loss of $16.1 million in 2025. We generated adjusted EBITDA of $58.0 million, a decrease of $9.5 million when compared to 2025. The decline in EBITDA was driven by lower revenue and a modest increase in expenses. During the first quarter, we repurchased 2.6 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $92.7 million. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we have repurchased an additional 1.8 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $64.8 million. Of the $500 million stock repurchase authorization approved in 2025, the company has approximately $198 million remaining. Our deferred revenue balance as of March was $203.8 million. Deferred revenue increased approximately 4.1% when compared to March 2025, reflecting a healthy outlook for ticketing, our group business, and our ancillary products. As a reminder, our deferred revenue balance contains a number of products, including ticketing, vacation packages, annual and seasonal passes, group sales, and ancillary products. Through April 2026, our paid pass base, excluding any free passes, was up compared to April 2025. As Marc mentioned, we are pleased to have seen paid pass sales up 12% so far this year through April 30. We believe we have our best pass benefits program ever and one of the best in the industry, and we expect we will continue to drive additional increases in pass sales and a strong pass base for the remainder of the year. We are especially pleased since we are in the peak advertising and selling season right now. We spent $69.6 million on CapEx in 2026, of which approximately $62.7 million was on core CapEx and approximately $7.0 million was on expansion and/or ROI projects. For 2026, we expect to spend approximately $105 million to $200 million on core CapEx and approximately $50 million of CapEx on growth and ROI projects. Now let me turn the call back over to Marc, who will share some final thoughts.
Thank you, James. Before we open the call to your questions, I have some closing comments. In 2026, we came to the aid of 211 animals in need. Over our history, we have helped over 43,000 animals, including bottlenose dolphins, manatees, sea lions, seals, sea turtles, sharks, birds, and more. I am really proud of the team's hard work and their continued dedication to these important rescue efforts. Our 2026 road map is defined by a compelling lineup of new rides, attractions, and events; an updated events calendar; an expanded concert lineup; and upgraded food and retail locations, all supported by a revamped marketing plan designed to increase guest visitation and spending. With very clear opportunities to grow attendance, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA, we are excited about the rest of 2026 and the years to come. We will now open the call for questions.
分析師問答
As a reminder, to ask a question, simply press star 1 on your telephone keypad. We do ask that you limit questions to one and one follow-up and then requeue. Our first question comes from the line of Steven Wieczynski with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. So Marc, I am interested in your comments that you think you can grow your EBITDA this year, especially with the first quarter results coming in below what you were hoping for. As we think about the rest of the year, I am a little surprised you seem so comfortable giving that guidance, given we still are not sure what weather is going to look like. Obviously, international visitation remains somewhat subdued, and there are obviously other potential headwinds out there as well. So as we think about the last three quarters of the year, can you run through some of the gives and takes here? And do you think the EBITDA, if there is year-over-year growth from here on out, will be more top-line driven, or more cost driven?
Hey, Steve. I think about the year in a couple different ways. First, we have a really good lineup of new rides and attractions, events, and new things coming to our parks that are largely still ahead of us. The vast majority of our year is still ahead of us. Even though we are here in April, the vast majority of our attendance and revenue is still ahead. So there is a strong lineup of new things to do in our parks that we believe will support more visitation and more spending in the parks. With respect to weather, we recognize there are some favorable comparisons on a go-forward basis. We do not control the weather, but to the extent weather does improve over last year, that should be a benefit for us. We will have to wait and see, obviously. We also know we will start to lap some of the international decline that we have experienced. If you remember, that was more of a second-half component last year. Those are some of the things. My confidence is driven by all those elements, but also by a couple other things you heard us mention. One is the increase in paid pass sales in the first quarter, which was substantial, as James and I noted. James also pointed out that our deferred revenue is now up 4% as of March, and it looks like it is retaining close to that for April as well. At the end of last year, deferred revenue was down 4%. So this is a pretty substantial improvement in deferred revenue, which is another go-forward indicator, along with the increase in Discovery Cove booking revenue and group sales pacing ahead as well. So group sales revenue is pacing ahead of last year. All those things taken together give us confidence that, going forward, we will see growth. I am excited about the attractions lineup, the changes we are making in marketing, and the pass sales. We are just entering the peak period as James mentioned. I hope that gives you some color.
That is helpful, Marc. And then the second question: given it is May 11 and we are essentially into your second quarter, can you give high-level thoughts around what you witnessed in April and what you have seen so far in May? From our view, weather was somewhat normal around most of the country in April and thus far in May. Anything you can say about how the second quarter has started would be helpful.
Steve, I wanted to add one more thing on your prior question. I did not mention the growth in the in-park per caps, which accelerated in Q1 from prior quarters, and you have also seen admissions per cap come back; it is still slightly negative but improving. If we can continue to grow in-park and get admissions per cap to a better spot, that contributes to growth. As for April, remember with the shift of Easter, some Easter days shifted out of Q1, which was an expected headwind in April. Weather is a little mixed: we had better weather in Williamsburg in April, but in Florida, a few days after Easter we had some poor weather. We have not had a ton of rain overall, but when it rained, it was right after Easter for a couple of days. We will see how it balances out. Hopefully, it is a more normalized trend. May is a back-loaded month, so it is early to draw conclusions this early in the month.
Your next question comes from the line of Patrick Scholes with Truist. Please go ahead.
Good morning. You had briefly mentioned about $30 million or so expectations from a partnership. Could you give more granularity on how that impacted your per cap strength in the quarter? Is there a way to break that out? How much of the per cap growth came from an increase in sponsorship in Q1?
I can help. It is still a fairly small amount in the quarter. Some of the deals we have signed are more recent, so you would see those more on a go-forward basis. I would not call it a huge contributor to Q1, but we are excited about the go-forward potential.
How are you thinking about the tailwinds this year from various holiday shifts, whether it is Juneteenth, July 4, and especially the Jewish holidays? When I look at hotel bookings in Orlando, it looks really strong. Curious your thoughts around that.
On the operating calendar, there are always puts and takes. I mentioned last quarter we had one less Saturday in March this year compared to last year, which was a meaningful impact on the first quarter and partially offset some Easter days shifting into March. Going forward, with Easter shifting into Q2, and with July 4 on a Saturday this year, that is probably a push compared to last year; we should still get a three-day weekend for many people. Nothing significant stands out right now. We do get a slightly longer summer with an earlier Memorial Day-ish and a later Labor Day, creating a longer period between them, but with many schools not tied to those holidays for when they end or resume, it is not a significant impact in my view.
Our next question is from Arpine Kocharyan with UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks very much for taking my question. OpEx was a bit higher than expected. Was there any timing factors for the quarter? I think you mentioned a couple of things in your prepared remarks. Mostly, I am trying to understand how we should be thinking about overall OpEx for 2026. Is that mid-single-digit sort of increase, low single-digit, or closer to mid-single-digit for OpEx for this year?
Arpine, good question about inflation and OpEx. If you look at our adjusted EBITDA, our expenses show very modest, roughly 1% growth, so you are probably focused on what we are showing in the financial statements for OpEx and selling, general, and administrative costs. OpEx is being driven by a lot of non-cash or one-time items. We mentioned $3.7 million in the non-cash self-insurance reserve. There is also an amount related to addressing the cold weather impacts to the Florida market and others—predominantly in Florida—for loss of plant material and repairs for damages from freezing we incurred in that February timeframe. For selling, general, and administrative, the increase is almost exclusively related to the amortization of our new ERP that we implemented in October, which will be amortized over the length of the agreement. That is non-cash in the first quarter and non-cash going forward.
That makes sense. Thank you. And going back to one-time items, I was looking at what you are adjusting back to EBITDA—something like $7 million for the quarter—and I think the footnote mentions a bunch of business optimization costs. Can you give a little more detail on what those are? They seem to be ongoing for several quarters. What makes those costs one-off? And similarly, that $3.3 million you are adjusting EBITDA for, what are those costs for?
As I mentioned, the consulting costs might be related to areas in procurement where we continue to try to minimize costs and do strategic sourcing, or consultants who helped in the implementation of the ERP system, or addressing impacts from the cold weather.
Your next question is from the line of Ben Chaikin with Mizuho. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. To follow up on the deferred revenue, if I am not mistaken, I think this is the first time in maybe 18 months that you are seeing a positive inflection here. Obviously, you highlighted the increase, but what do you think is driving this? What caused the inflection?
Ben, you are right: it had not been positive on a year-over-year basis in quite a while. Our deferred revenue includes advanced products: season passes, ancillary products, tickets, and experiences. I do not think there is necessarily one single driver; better sales of passes have helped, and our in-park performance includes many items we can sell in advance that sit in deferred revenue until guests come. Those factors together are contributing to the improvement.
That is helpful. Going back to your comment on higher EBITDA year over year, you gave the reasons you were constructive. Can we unpack the variables somewhat? Is this top-line driven? If so, where are you seeing the most traction? Is it attendance, pricing, or both? And then why?
It is a mix. On a go-forward basis, I like our setup of events and attractions that are still to come. I like the possibility of improved weather compared to last year, and we will lap the international decline in the second half of the year. Supporting that is growth in in-park per caps; in this quarter our total per cap was up. Even with the same attendance, if you grow per caps, that drives revenue growth. So per cap growth, attendance, sponsorship revenue, and cost management all play a role in driving EBITDA growth going forward.
Just to follow up quickly: the deferred revenue appears to be quite an inflection—why would plus 4% deferred revenue not translate to slightly positive attendance for the year?
No, I was not suggesting we are not going to grow attendance. Certainly, that is our plan and expectation. I was pointing out other drivers as well. The lineup of things we have across our parks, we believe, will drive people to visit.
Your next question comes from the line of Elizabeth Dove with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to go back to cost for a second. You mentioned you are still targeting the $50 million of gross cost savings for this year, but you have had various wage headwinds. You mentioned the advertising campaign that you are ramping up. Anything you could share in terms of that gross-to-net translation this year and your ability to flow that through to the bottom line?
Let me start, and James can add. We hold ourselves to a high standard on cost and have done a lot of work over the years; if you look at margin expansion since 2019, we have done well. More recently, we clearly need to do a better job. We kept the EBITDA expense growth for this quarter under 1%, as James mentioned. Our goal is to achieve the $50 million cost savings target, which in many cases will offset other headwinds and inflationary pressures. We want to manage to as low expense growth as possible or realize savings. That is how we think about it holistically, and we hold ourselves to a high standard.
I would add that we did an exceptional job managing hourly and theme park labor over the quarter despite some headwinds. We also have focused efforts on reducing claims and the introduction of technology to reduce labor costs. All of those are bearing fruit, and I think we will continue to see those benefits in the coming quarters.
Got it. I wanted to ask about capital allocation and leverage. You have been buying back stock pretty consistently. I appreciate Q1 is typically a lower cash flow generation quarter, but I think you closed out with a cash balance around $29 million. How do you think about buybacks from here, taking on more leverage, and where you feel comfortable longer term from a leverage standpoint?
We are comfortable where the leverage ratio is now at the end of Q1—not to say we would not be comfortable with something higher or lower, and that is something we discuss with our board. We are coming out of the trough of cash generation due to seasonality. On a go-forward basis, we expect cash to grow, which will support share repurchases. Over the full year, we generate a good amount of cash each year, and I expect we will continue to do that. If we ever got to a situation where our leverage was getting too high, we would take that into account before making decisions. We are comfortable now and expect improvement as we enter our busier season.
Your next question comes from the line of James Hardiman with Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Sean Wagner on for James. You had mentioned that weather should improve, particularly in the back half of the year, but also in Q2 last year, you characterized it as among the worst weather you had seen in the second quarter. Assuming more normal weather, do you get any operating days back because of closures last year, or are operating days expected to be relatively flat this year?
I think operating days will be fairly consistent. We might pick up a day or two, mainly in water parks that may have closed last year. Often with weather you can open, but attendance may be low if it rains in the afternoon or morning, which has an impact. We did have fewer operating days in the first quarter: our California Sesame park did not open in January and February and into March, and we had some days when our Florida water park was closed due to cold. Hopefully this year the weather is better.
On your last call, you indicated there is pricing headroom in many markets and admissions per cap should grow over time. We did see that improve sequentially from declines over several quarters now, but how should we think about that going forward? Do you have any expectations on when that inflects positively? Or should we think about comparisons with some promotions or pricing you ran last year?
Our goal is to grow pricing over time, and we recognize there is room to do that in many markets. We will always defer to driving total revenue. The good news is admissions per cap has improved and is down less than in prior quarters. We are making progress and expect to continue. There may be times when an offer could be at odds with per cap, but we are focused on total revenue, and we have demonstrated movement in the right direction with admissions per cap.
Our next question is from the line of Chris Woronka with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Marc, you have talked in the last couple of years about modernizing some of your marketing programs. Are you seeing any tangible impacts from that yet, or are those still more to come?
Chris, there are more ways than ever to market now, and it changes rapidly with how people consume media. We could have done some things better and had hiccups, but we continue to tweak how we allocate spend, the mix, locations, and platforms. We test, learn, and optimize. We have had many discussions about this area recently. We are confident in the plan going forward but remain aware that things change and we must stay ahead of them.
On the land sales, for potential buyers of parcels near your parks, how important is their intended usage? Could their plans be complementary or possibly non-complementary to the surrounding park?
Intended use matters. Uses such as hotels, entertainment districts, or housing can complement our offering by encouraging guests to stay longer, come for more days, and increase spend—similar to what others in the industry do with hotels. We would look for uses that benefit our parks, and there are different ways to execute that. We expect the land to be used in ways that benefit our parks and guests.
With no further questions in queue, I now hand the call back over to Marc Swanson for closing remarks.
On behalf of James and the rest of the management team here at United Parks & Resorts Inc., I want to thank you for joining us this morning. As you heard today, we are confident in our long-term strategy, which we believe will drive improved operating and financial results and long-term value for stakeholders. We invite everyone to join us at our parks this summer to experience the energy and excitement we are offering. Thank you, and we look forward to speaking again next quarter.
Thank you again for joining us today. This does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect.