Theme park operator United Parks & Resorts (NYSE: PRKS) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, but sales fell by 3% year on year to $278.3 million. Its GAAP loss of $0.69 per share was significantly below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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United Parks & Resorts (PRKS) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $278.3 million vs analyst estimates of $278.8 million (3% year-on-year decline, in line)
- EPS (GAAP): -$0.69 vs analyst estimates of -$0.31 (significant miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $57.95 million vs analyst estimates of $62.54 million (20.8% margin, 7.3% miss)
- Operating Margin: -3.1%, down from 5.9% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow was -$2.83 million compared to -$31.19 million in the same quarter last year
- Visitors: down 180,000 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $1.91 billion
"First quarter results fell short of our expectations primarily due to unfavorable weather (including unfavorable weather in San Diego and Florida in January and February, and again in Florida and Texas during their peak Spring Break periods) and a decline in international attendance. 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," said Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer of United Parks & Resorts Inc.
Company Overview
Parent company of SeaWorld and home of the world-famous Shamu, United Parks & Resorts (NYSE: PRKS) is a theme park chain featuring marine life, live entertainment, roller coasters, and waterparks.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last five years, United Parks & Resorts grew its sales at a 29.7% compounded annual growth rate. Though this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, we need to see more than just topline growth for the consumer discretionary sector, which can display significant earnings volatility. This means our bar for the sector is particularly high, reflecting the non-essential and hit-driven nature of the products and services offered. Additionally, five-year CAGR starts around Covid, when revenue was depressed then rebounded.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. United Parks & Resorts’s performance shows it grew in the past but relinquished its gains over the last two years, as its revenue fell by 2.2% annually. Note that COVID hurt United Parks & Resorts’s business in 2020 and part of 2021, and it bounced back in a big way thereafter. 
United Parks & Resorts also discloses its number of visitors, which reached 3.22 million in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, United Parks & Resorts’s visitors averaged 2.7% year-on-year declines. Because this number aligns with its revenue growth during the same period, we can see the company’s monetization was fairly consistent. 
This quarter, United Parks & Resorts reported a rather uninspiring 3% year-on-year revenue decline to $278.3 million of revenue, in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.2% over the next 12 months. Although this projection suggests its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.
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Operating Margin
United Parks & Resorts’s operating margin has shrunk over the last 12 months and averaged 23.7% over the last two years. The company’s profitability was mediocre for a consumer discretionary business and shows it couldn’t pass its higher operating expenses onto its customers.
In Q1, United Parks & Resorts generated an operating margin profit margin of negative 3.1%, down 8.9 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses increased relative to its revenue.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
United Parks & Resorts’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is encouraging and shows it’s at a critical moment in its life.
In Q1, United Parks & Resorts reported EPS of negative $0.69, down from negative $0.29 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects United Parks & Resorts’s full-year EPS of $2.65 to grow 48.2%.
Key Takeaways from United Parks & Resorts’s Q1 Results
We struggled to find many positives in these results. Its adjusted operating income missed and its EPS fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock remained flat at $39.30 immediately after reporting.
Is United Parks & Resorts an attractive investment opportunity right now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
