Top Recreation Companies For 2015

Top Recreation Companies For 2015: SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (SEAS)

SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., incorporated on October 2, 2009, is a theme park and entertainment company. The Company is engaged in delivering personal, interactive and educational experiences that blend imagination with nature and enable its customers to celebrate, connect with and care for the natural world. The Company own or license a portfolio of globally recognized brands including SeaWorld, Shamu and Busch Gardens. The Company has built a diversified portfolio of 11 destination and regional theme parks that are grouped in key markets across the United States. Its theme parks feature a diverse array of rides, shows and other attractions with broad demographic appeal which deliver memorable experiences and a strong value proposition for its guests. In addition to its theme parks, it has recently begun to leverage its brands into media, entertainment and consumer products.

The Company generates revenue primarily from selling admission to its theme parks a nd from purchases of food, merchandise and other spending. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it hosted more than 24 million guests in its theme parks, including approximately 3.5 million international guests from over 55 countries and six continents. In 2012, the Company opened new attractions in seven of its theme parks. In November 2012, the Company acquired Knott's Soak City, a standalone Southern California water park, from an affiliate of Cedar Fair L.P. The Company's products and services include Admission Tickets, Theme Park Operations, Culinary Offerings , Merchandise , Licensing and Consumer Products , Group Events and Conventions and Corporate Sponsorships and Strategic Alliances.

Admission Tickets, which generate most of its revenue from selling admission to its theme parks. The Company also offers a Fun Card at select theme parks that al! lows additional visits throughout that calendar year. In addition, visitors can purchase vacation packa ges with preferred hotels, behind-the-scenes tours, specialt! y dining packages and front of the line access to enhance their experience. Theme Park Operations delivers a level of service, safety and security at its theme parks. It comprised of rides, shows and attractions operations, safety, security, environmental, water park and guest arrival services (including parking, tolls, admissions, guest relations, entry and exit), the theme park operations team manages the planning and execution of the overall theme park experience on a daily basis.

Culinary Offerings delivers a variety of high quality, creative and memorable culinary experiences to its guests. Culinary operations are strategically organized into five key guest-oriented disciplines designed to drive in-park per capita spending: restaurants, catering, carts and kiosks, specialty snacks and vending. The Company's culinary team focuses on providing creative menu offerings that appeal to our diverse guest base. Merchandise offers guests the opportunity to captur e memories through its products and services, including through traditional retail shops, game venues and customized photos and videos. It focuses on effort to leverage the emotional connection of the theme park experiences, capitalize on trends and optimize brand alignment with its merchandise product offerings.

Licensing and Consumer Products capitalize on its brands, it has begun to leverage its intellectual property and content through media and consumer strategic licensing arrangements. It extended the reach of its brands through outbound media licensing in areas such as films, television programs and digital e-books, as well as its first-ever multi-platform mobile app game, TurtleTrek, which launched on iTunes in November 2012. Group Events and Conventions host a variety of different group events, meetings and conventions at its theme parks both du! ring the ! day and at night. Its venues offer indoor and outdoor space for meetings, special events, entertainme nt shows, picnics, teambuilding events, group tours and spec! ial group! ticket packages. Park buy-outs allow groups to enjoy exclusive itineraries, including meetings and shows, up-close encounters with animals and behind the scenes tours. Corporate Sponsorships and Strategic Alliances seek to secure long-term corporate sponsorships and strategic alliances with companies and brands that share its core values, deliver brand marketing value and influence and drive mutual business gains. Its current corporate sponsors include, among others, Southwest Airlines, which has been a sponsor for over 20 years, and The Coca-Cola Company.

SeaWorld.

SeaWorld is recognized as the marine-life theme park brand in the world. Its SeaWorld theme parks, located in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego, each rank among the most highly attended theme parks in the industry and offer up-close interactive experiences and a variety of live performances, including shows featuring Shamu in specially designed amphitheaters. It offers its guests numer ous animal encounters, including the opportunity to work with trainers and feed marine animals, as well as themed thrill rides and theatrical shows that creatively incorporate its animal collection.

Busch Gardens

Its Busch Gardens theme parks are family-oriented destinations designed to immerse guests in foreign geographic settings. They are renowned for their beauty and landscaping and gardens and allow its guests to discover the natural side of fun by offering a family experience featuring a range of attractions and rollercoasters in a richly-themed environment. Busch Gardens Tampa presents its collection of animals from Africa, Asia and Australia.

Aquatica

Its Aquatica branded water parks are premium, family-oriented destinations that are based in a South Seas-themed tropical setting. Aquatica water par! ks build ! on the aquatic theme of its SeaWorld brand and feature high-energy rides, water attractions, white-sand beaches ande entertaining presentation of marine and terrestrial an! imals. Th! e Company positions its Aquatica water parks as companion water parks to its SeaWorld theme parks in Orlando and San Diego and it has an Aquatica water park situated within its SeaWorld San Antonio theme park.

Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove is a reservations only, all-inclusive, marine-life day resort adjacent to SeaWorld Orlando. Discovery Cove offers guests personal, signature experiences, including the opportunity to swim and interact with dolphins, take an underwater walking reef tour and enjoy pristine white-sand beaches and landscaped private cabanas. Discovery Cove presently limits its attendance to approximately 1,300 guests per day and features premium culinary offerings in order to provide guests with a more relaxed, intimate and high-end luxury resort experience.

Sesame Place

Sesame Place is the only United States theme park based entirely on the television show Sesame Street. It is located between Philadelphia an d New York City, Sesame Place is a destination where parents and children can share in the spirit of imagination and experience Sesame Street together through whirling rides, water slides, colorful shows and furry friends. In addition, it has introduced Sesame Street brands in its other theme parks through Sesame Street-themed rides, shows, children's play areas and merchandise.

The Company competes with The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Merlin Entertainments and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

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• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Mike Aguilera/SeaWorld San Diego/AP In a move that was probably long overdue, SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) is making a change at the top. CEO Jim Atchison will step down next month. The board's chairman will be taking the helm, but only until the marine-life theme park operator finds a new leader. He's not the only one moving on. Reports indicate that roughly 300 of its employees were given pink slips on Friday. If SeaWorld's battling the negative publicity stemming from the company's portrayal in the "Blackfish" documentary, it's not going to fare any better after letting hundreds of its workers go just days ahead of the holidays. The layoffs also contrast Atchison's treatment: He will be getting a severance package worth millions. The change at the top isn't a surprise. SeaWorld has been a disaster since going public at $27 last year, and the stock has fallen all the way down to the mid-teens. Something's not right at SeaWorld, but it's something that may require more than simply a new chieftain. Black and Blue Fish Folks just aren't trekking out to SeaWorld these days. The parent company of SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica experienced a 4.1 percent decline in attendance last year, and turnstile clicks are off by another 4.7 percent through the first three quarters of 2014. It's not just an attendance problem. SeaWorld posted an 8 percent year-over-year decline in revenue for its latest quarter as a 5 percent slide in attendance was exacerbated by a 3 percent dip in revenue per guest. In other words, it's not just a matter of customers not showing up: When they do come, they're not spending as! much as ! they used to for a day at the park. SeaWorld doesn't like to talk about "Blackfish," but it's clearly playing a role in keeping potential patrons away. The documentary takes jabs at SeaWorld for keeping killer whales in captivity and performing for guests, and it wouldn't be a surprise if the slip in revenue per guest has something to do with visitors

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) suffered a whale of an earnings miss today, sending the stock falling 9.78% to $16.78.

  The operator of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens reported a profit of $1.01 a share, down from $1.34 a share a year earlier and below the $1.13 a share expected by the Street. Revenue fell 7.9% to $495.8 million.

  To blame? Continued bad publicity following the 2013 release of the documentary film “Blackfish” and increased competition in the Florida market from the likes of Disney (DIS) and UniversalStudios, owned by Comcast (CMCSA)

  Park attendance fell 5.2% during the quarter, typically the biggest of the year for SeaWorld, compared with a year before. Through the first nine months of the year attendance has fallen 4.7%.

  According to FBR Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett, Disney reported a 4% rise in attendance and a 6% rise in per cap spending at its domestic parks, driven mainly by Disney World in Orlando. Universal reported 17% revenue growth in its parks segment, thanks in part to positive reception for the new Harry Potter Diagon Alley attraction that opened July 8 in Orlando.

  But Crockett notes that SeaWold maintained its full year guidance. He writes:

  …full year guidance was maintained, suggesting a better than anticipated trend in 4Q14, with a YOY EBITDA increase of 5% to 24%, perhaps tied to a better-than-expected cost-cutting initiative generating $50 million of savings versus previous suggestions for at least $40 million.

  SeaWorld, which operates 11 theme parks, said in August it would build new, larger killer-whale facilities! , with th! e first set to open in San Diego in 2018.

  That plan hasn't appeased animal-rights groups opposed to captive breeding of the whales or their use in shows.

  SeaWorld has fallen more than 50% since hitting a 52-week high in March at $35.22 a share.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  www.sixflags.com Major market indexes may be hitting new highs, but not everyone is celebrating. Given the lofty stock valuations and slowly expanding economy, many investors are starting to hunt for high-yielding stocks that can provide some steady income to help offset any upcoming market declines. Utility stocks, real estate investment trusts and limited partnerships are magnetic because of their chunky yields, but let's look beyond the obvious high-payers. Let's check out a few investments generating high payouts in some unlikely places. Six Flags (SIX) -- 5.1 percent yield It seems as if you can't run an amusement park chain as a public company without rewarding your stakeholders with some spending money for the next time they hit the park. This can probably be attributed to Cedar Fair (FUN), which as a limited partnership shells out most of its profits as distributions. This translated into a head-turning yield of 5.7 percent. Six Flags isn't too shabby, presently yielding more than 5 percent. Even SeaWorld (SEAS) is now brandishing a yield north of 4 percent, largely the result of losing nearly a third of its value after a poorly received quarterly report a few weeks ago. Running a theme park isn't cheap. It takes frequent sizable investments during the off-seasons to beef up the attractions. However, Six Flags is finding a way to build out its gated attractions while still being able to return money to its shareholders. Mattel (MAT) -- 4.3 percent yield Barbie, Hot Wheels and American Girl are just some of the famous playthings produced by Mattel. Barbie sales have slowed in recent years, plunging 15 percent in Mattel's latest quarter, and having a few more hit toys and games th! is upcomi! ng holiday season wouldn't hurt. The toy-making giant has been struggling lately, missing Wall Street's profit targets in each of the past three quarters. Still, toy makers apparently don't play games when it comes to their payouts. Rival Hasbro (HAS) -- the to

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