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A little tid bit preview on the 4th quarter attendance from a SEC filing on Jan 07. This sounds like good news. Hopefully their 4th quarter and full year results, which are generally released toward the end of this month prove to be just as good.

"A Message from Serge Rivera

Many of you have reached out asking for specifics around our results for 2019. As you know, since we are a publicly traded company we can’t provide more details until we release earnings; however, I can provide some context around our attendance numbers. On a consolidated basis, we expect to report an increase in attendance of approximately 2% for the fourth quarter of 2019 when compared to the prior year quarter.

During the quarter, many of our parks had some particularly strong attendance days, including some record days, which is exciting and we look forward to a productive 2020. Thank you to all our ambassadors for your help during the year and especially this past quarter. I will share more details and information after we release earnings. "
 
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Alf33 said:
A little tid bit preview on the 4th quarter attendance from a SEC filing on Jan 07. This sounds like good news. Hopefully their 4th quarter and full year results, which are generally released toward the end of this month prove to be just as good.

"A Message from Serge Rivera

Many of you have reached out asking for specifics around our results for 2019. As you know, since we are a publicly traded company we can’t provide more details until we release earnings; however, I can provide some context around our attendance numbers. On a consolidated basis, we expect to report an increase in attendance of approximately 2% for the fourth quarter of 2019 when compared to the prior year quarter.

During the quarter, many of our parks had some particularly strong attendance days, including some record days, which is exciting and we look forward to a productive 2020. Thank you to all our ambassadors for your help during the year and especially this past quarter. I will share more details and information after we release earnings. "
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I reported this on 7-Jan.

parkfans.net

Leaked Memo Indicates Q4 2019 Attendance Boost

Saw a report that a leaked memo from the new CEO indicates a good boost (2%) in attendance during q4. Shares up 5.33% today due to this news. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/seaworld-surges-attendance-hopes-102400939.html
parkfans.net parkfans.net

After the memo leaked, investors started reaching out for confirmation and they basically confirmed it.

Conference call and results coming on 26 Feb.
 
Alf33 said:
@Jahrules, Sorry! Didn't see your post.
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It's all good. At any rate it's looking like a good quarter (and full year) for seas.

Good results bodes well for them carrying on their aggressive expansion plans.

And that's good for all of us.
 
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Looks like really strong numbers to me.

From SeaWorldinvestors.com:

Fourth Quarter 2019 Highlights

  • Attendance increased 2.2%, to 4.7 million guests from the fourth quarter of 2018.
  • Total revenue increased by $18.0 million, or 6.4%, to $298.0 million from the fourth quarter of 2018.
  • Net loss increased by $13.1 million, to $24.2 million from the fourth quarter of 2018.
  • Adjusted EBITDA[1] increased by $19.3 million, or 29.9%, to $83.9 million from the fourth quarter of 2018.
Fiscal 2019 Highlights

  • Attendance increased 0.2%, to 22.6 million guests from fiscal 2018.
  • Total revenue increased by $26.0 million, or 1.9%, to $1.4 billion from fiscal 2018.
  • Net income increased by $44.7 million, or 99.8%, to a record $89.5 million from fiscal 2018.
  • Adjusted EBITDA increased by $55.6 million, or 13.9%, to a record $456.9 million from fiscal 2018.
Other Highlights

  • In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company helped rescue over 350 animals and surpassed 36,000 total rescues over its history.
 
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Unlike the previous three quarters I will not be able to listen in live to the results call. I will listen to the recording when it's available (usually around noon).

I'm hoping that they make some sort of statement regarding the status of their aggressive expansion plans.

They had initially committed to three years (2019, 2020, 2021) of spending at these levels. As now is the time theyd be doing initial planning/budgeting for 2022; it may be possible that we hear "high level" if the aggressive spending will continue in 2022.

I can see the argument for both sides. On one front, they may want to see another year's results before continuing to spend like this. But on the other front, you can argue if the strategy is working, they won't want to take their foot off the gas.

My gut says we'll see a blend of the two. Meaning they'll put off the decision as long as possible resulting in 2022 being a lighter, but still expansion year (think Finnegan's flier instead of Pantheon or Drachenspire to put it into BGW terms).
 
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Here's the text from their SEC filing that follows the number figure highlights @Jahrules posted above. It's a general overview.

“We are pleased to report a strong finish to the year with record-setting performance in the fourth quarter and fiscal year,” said Serge Rivera, Chief Executive Officer of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. “Despite continued unfavorable weather during the quarter, we continued to grow attendance and total revenue per capita and executed on our cost and efficiency initiatives. Our strategic focus on new rides, attractions and events in every park every year, improved marketing, communications and pricing strategies and a relentless focus on cost efficiency initiatives has resulted in significant increases in attendance, revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA over the last two years.”

“We will continue to refine our strategic focus to drive increased attendance and revenue while also expanding our margins,” continued Rivera. “We continue to believe there are significant additional opportunities to further improve and enhance our execution and drive meaningful growth in revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA. With respect to 2020, we could not be more excited about our ride, attraction and event line up – it will be our strongest line up ever. We will be introducing one-of-a-kind, record-breaking roller coasters across our five major theme parks and thrilling, record-breaking new slides across our water parks this year. We are particularly proud to have five of the 10 most anticipated roller coasters of 2020, according to USA Today, opening in our parks in the coming weeks. These new attractions complement our existing award-winning attractions that we introduced last year including four of “USA Today's 10 Best” list for new attractions in 2019; including the number one ranked new attraction – Sesame Street Land at SeaWorld Orlando. With our strong 2020 line up of new rides, attractions and events, and the ongoing focus on and refinement of our strategic marketing and communication, pricing, and cost initiatives, we remain confident in our ability to achieve the higher end of our 2020 goal of $475 million to $500 million in Adjusted EBITDA. We are excited about the future and the opportunity to continue delivering significant operational and financial improvement that we expect will continue to lead to meaningful increases in shareholder value.”

Fourth Quarter 2019 Results

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company hosted approximately 4.7 million guests, generated total revenues of $298.0 million, incurred a net loss of $24.2 million and reported Adjusted EBITDA of $83.9 million. Net loss includes a previously announced legal settlement charge, net of insurance recoveries, of approximately $32.1 million. Net loss in the fourth quarter of 2018 includes approximately $8.2 million of pre-tax expenses associated with a loss on extinguishment of debt and write-off of discount and debt issuance costs, $2.5 million related to disposals associated with certain rides and equipment which were removed from service and $1.0 million related to severance and other separation-related costs.
 
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Eric said:
Which rides and equipment were removed from service that costed this much?
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Probably just cleaning out the various bone yards around the country.
 
Eric said:
Q4 results come out tomorrow at 9am EST. Stocks have been going down all day but I dont know if that means anything.
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There pricing in the possibility of parks closing from the Coronavirus. If/when this occurs, the parks could be shut down or have low attendance for weeks, which would be a big revenue hit.
 
I've finally gotten to listen to the whole thing. Here are my impressions.

They _really_ hammer home how happy they are with the results of their expansion strategy. Without giving specifics at this point, they did indicate it will continue.

Every ride on track to open before vacation season which is super awesome.

The analysts had a lot of questions about impacts of the Coronavirus on park attendance. It's always interesting to hear some demographics info that SeaWorld normally doesn't publicize. In short, they indicated that Chinese tourists don't even make top visitors for demographics; so Chinese travel restrictions due to Coronavirus will have minimal impacts.

Of course, if the virus becomes more serious in the US and other countries then we'll see impact, but so will every other industry.

One Q/A stood out to me. One person asked about price increases. Of course, inflation etc increases will happen (duh) but SEAS management went further to say that another likely revenue lever will be reducing/eliminating discount ticket offers. This is potentially interesting to anyone "holding out" waiting for a better offer to happen on membership / etc. If you see a good deal, it may be the right time to go for it.

Also I thought more about @Eric 's question. I am extremely confident that the majority of the 2.5m item was from the demo and haul-away of the original Gwazi structure.
 
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Yesterday there were six Directors of the company that filed reports to the SEC informing them of share purchases that they each made. I guess they all like the low price of the company stock and decided it is a good time to purchase some.
 
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Alf33 said:
Yesterday there were six Directors of the company that filed reports to the SEC informing them of share purchases that they each made. I guess they all like the low price of the company stock and decided it is a good time to purchase some.
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This is actually very positive news.

It indicates that these directors have no concerns about seas closing up shop and are confident enough to put their money where their mouths are.
 
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Alf33 said:
Yesterday there were six Directors of the company that filed reports to the SEC informing them of share purchases that they each made. I guess they all like the low price of the company stock and decided it is a good time to purchase some.
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Okay; so, I did my own research. The Directors did not buy these shares. They were given to them by the company as part of a preexisting incentive plan. Likely relating to the 2019 fiscal performance.

Here's an example filing:

Screenshot_20200402-105747.png

So, in the above example, Director Charles Koppelman was given a bonus of roughly $20,000 in the form of stock.

Note how box 4 says $0.00 this is the amount he 'paid' for the shares (had he 'bought' them).

And also note the bottom gives the title of the incentive plan.

I retract my earlier statement. This is not any indication of confidence.
 
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@Jahrules, Thanks, I missed that. The directors made out like bandits then as they got a lot more shares for the amount compensated than when the price was around $26/share or when it topped out at about $36.
 
Alf33 said:
@Jahrules, Thanks, I missed that. The directors made out like bandits then as they got a lot more shares for the amount compensated than when the price was around $26/share or when it topped out at about $36.
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The incentive might not have been for a $ amount but for a set amount of shares
 
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