Six Flags: Q1 sees a boost in spending despite drop in attendance

Yahoo Finance Live anchors Julie Hyman and Brad Smith discuss the decline in stock for Six Flags following first-quarter earnings.

Video transcript

BRAD SMITH: Let's also talk about shares of Six Flags here. They are rising today after the theme park saw a 7% jump in average spending per guest as price hikes offset a 5% drop in attendance year-over-year. Shares right now-- my goodness, they are going to the top of the ride. Right now, they're up by about 21%. I was trying to think of something good.

JULIE HYMAN: I like it.

BRAD SMITH: I got nothing. Anyway, taking a look at the revenue, the attendance, and the total guest spending per capita. This was interesting. Investors might be kind of zeroing in on this. That was up 7%. Overall revenue up 3%. But that attendance-- actually down, here. I don't know. I remember--

JULIE HYMAN: It was better than estimated, it looks like. I mean, we got some Stifel comments on the quarter, and I guess there was a lot of weather disruptions, which obviously affects how many people are going to go to the parks, in particular in California and Texas. The Stifel analyst said investor expectations were extremely low for Six going into this print, but attendance actually came in better than the Stifel analysts were expecting. So that's something that, I guess, is more positive. When you got really bad expectations, then you come out and beat them, that's what happens to the stock, I suppose.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah. I've never been a massive Six Flags fan, but I do remember my days of taking the Coke cans in and just being able to get a little discount on the tickets, there. But I'm still fearful of roller coasters. Anyway--