Is United Parks a Theme Park Company or a Real Estate Company?
United Parks & Resorts reported fiscal 2025 results this week; Revenue, attendance, net income, and EBITDA were all down. “Our fiscal 2025 results did not meet our expectations. While the consumer environment was uneven and our results were impacted by negative international tourism trends and volatile weather during certain peak visitation periods, we should have delivered better results, particularly on the cost side of the income statement,” CEO Marc Swanson said during the earnings call.
The earnings call, however, spent relatively little time on what went wrong in the parks. Instead, the company debuted a supplemental investor presentation focused on the value of its real estate, the replacement cost of its assets, and why the stock is undervalued. The company has spent approximately $247 million on stock buybacks over the past 14 months, while cutting expansion CapEx nearly in half.
The Numbers
Full year 2025:
· Revenue fell 3.6% to $1.66 billion.
· Attendance dropped 1.8% to 21.17 million guests.
· Net income fell 26% to $168.4 million.
· Adjusted EBITDA declined 13.6% to $605.1 million.
· Free cash flow dropped 29.8% to $162.6 million.
Q4 2025:
· Revenue was $373.5 million, down 2.8%.
· Attendance was 4.76 million, down 2.6%.
· Net income was $15.1 million, down 46%.
· Adjusted EBITDA was $115.2 million, down 20.3%, which includes a one-time $7.6 million bad debt write-off.
In-park per capita spending was $35.89 in Q4, up 2.1%. For the full year, in-park per-cap was $36.81, up 1% but barely keeping pace with inflation. Total revenue per capita declined 1.9% for the year, driven by a 4.3% drop in admissions per cap. Swanson acknowledged this, stating “Admission per cap has been impacted by various factors recently, including more promotional activity.”
Costs Are Still Out of Line
The company entered 2025 targeting $50–$75 million in gross cost savings. On the earnings call, Citi analyst James Hardiman pressed directly: “…you guys had targeted $50 million–$75 million of gross savings… It looks like total expenses were actually up about $25 million.”
Swanson did not answer the question directly: “Nonetheless, we believe we can do a better job, and there was times in [2025] that we weren’t optimal on managing costs and reacting to things as quickly as we could.” UBS analyst Arpine Kocharyan pushed further, asking what portion of the new $50 million 2026 target is incremental versus what was already in the plan. Swanson: “I don’t want to guide you to any specific numbers or anything like that, but I can tell you we’re highly focused on this.”
Why the Buybacks Matter
Over the past 14 months, United Parks repurchased approximately 6.7 million shares (roughly 12% of its outstanding stock) for approximately $247 million. In fiscal 2025 alone, the company spent $157 million on buybacks, with $144.7 million of that concentrated in Q4. Through late February 2026, an additional $90.1 million was spent on buybacks.
Expansion and ROI-related CapEx was cut from $70.7 million in 2024 to $35.1 million in 2025. Core CapEx (maintenance and existing park investment) stayed relatively stable at $182 million.
United Parks saw declines across all of its critical metrics, and instead of outlining an improvement plan for costs or operations, it stressed the value of its assets. Meanwhile, it continues to invest massively in stock buybacks. Why? My theory is that United Parks plans to sell assets and is thus maneuvering to benefit the largest shareholders.
Here’s what Swanson said about the assets and undervaluation:
“We have over 2,000 acres of owned real estate, including over 400 acres of undeveloped land. We estimate the replacement cost of our parks to be over $10 billion, or about 2.5 times our current enterprise value. In other words, our current enterprise value is less than half the replacement cost of our assets.
While the public markets may not be appropriately recognizing the value of our assets, others are. We have received multiple sale-leaseback proposals that we are currently evaluating and have active discussions with various partners on hotel development, timeshare development, residential development, and other commercial development on our owned property.
There’s nothing more to share on this today and we will update you when we do have more to share.”
Hill Path Capital, a private equity firm, controls more than 50% of the board. Swanson referenced this directly on the call, saying, “I think you’re very familiar with the makeup of our board. More than 50% owned by a private equity firm, and we get a lot of, obviously, guidance and counsel from them on how to use cash.”
When a company buys back shares, it reduces the total share count, thereby increasing the ownership percentage of the remaining shareholders. If the company later monetizes assets (i.e., through the sale-leasebacks Swanson mentioned, or through hotel, timeshare, or residential development), that value gets distributed across fewer shares, meaning each remaining share gets a bigger piece. It is conceivable that the buybacks are part of a strategy to position the company for asset sales that would disproportionately benefit its largest shareholders.
And, there is precedent for SeaWorld properties becoming real estate. SeaWorld Ohio operated in Aurora, Ohio, for three decades before the property changed hands multiple times. Today, the former park site is home to a Liberty Ford dealership and a Pulte Homes residential development.
The Six Flags Comparison
During the call, United Parks drew a comparison to Six Flags, arguing that it was in a better position. And the numbers do favor United Parks; United Parks’ Adjusted EBITDA margin is roughly 36%, compared to Six Flags’ Modified EBITDA margin of roughly 27%. Total long-term debt is $2.25 billion versus Six Flags’ $5.1 billion in net debt. Revenue per capita is $78.54 versus $61.90.
However, the two earnings calls painted very different pictures. As we covered last week, Six Flags’ new CEO, John Reilly, brought specific operational examples and improvements on his first call. He admitted that cutting winter holiday events at four parks cost an estimated 425,000 visitors. Those are concrete, operational observations from a CEO who’s toured parks and spoken with frontline staff to get buy-in.
United Parks’ call was largely about asset values and stock buybacks. When Swanson talked about what makes the parks different, his argument came down to animals: “You’re coming here for a different experience. It’s a differentiated experience with what we can offer with the animals and some of the rides that are blended in with animal components.”
That’s a fair argument, but it seems undermined by the 2026 investment lineup. Barracuda Strike at SeaWorld San Antonio is a family coaster. SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld Orlando is a ride. The Shark Encounter reimagining in San Diego is a refresh. Verbolten: Forbidden Turn at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a coaster reimagining. The only new animal investment in the entire 2026 lineup is Lion & Hyena Ridge at Busch Gardens Tampa — a 35,000-square-foot habitat for lions and hyenas. If the differentiation argument is animals, only one of the five headline investments for 2026 is an animal investment.
Attendance has fallen for two consecutive years. The competitive landscape is intensifying, with Epic Universe now open in Orlando and competition in every market in which these parks operate. The earnings call spent more time on replacement values and sale-leaseback proposals than on how to bring guests back through the gates. For two weeks in a row now, we’ve covered the earnings of the largest publicly traded non-Disney, non-Universal park operators, and both are reporting declining numbers. The difference is that at least one of them came to the call with a plan for the parks; The other came with a plan for the stock.
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Six Flags’ New CEO Toured 14 Parks. Here’s What He Found.
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Is Universal’s Ecosystem Strategy Is Actually Working Against Disney?
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Is Six Flags Preparing to Sell More Parks?
