United Parks & Resorts Q3 2026: Missed on Both Lines as Attendance Fell

United Parks & Resorts reported Q3 2026 earnings of $1.74 per diluted share, missing the $2.04 analyst consensus by roughly 15%. Revenue came in at $506.5 million, about 0.9% below the $511.1 million estimate and down 1.1% from a year earlier. The double miss landed against a backdrop of falling attendance, rising costs, and an already thin cash position.

Attendance slid about 4.7%, with management attributing the decline to adverse weather, calendar shifts, and weaker international visitation. CEO Marc Swanson acknowledged the headwinds directly, noting that excluding approximately 325,000 visits lost to those unusual factors, attendance would have been positive. A planned pullback in promotional admissions products reduced visits by more than 100,000 on top of that.

The per-share earnings figure was propped up by an aggressive buyback program. The diluted share count fell to 46.0 million from 55.5 million a year earlier, meaning net income of roughly $80 million spread over far fewer shares. Without that reduction, the gap between reported results and expectations would have looked considerably wider. Net income itself declined 10.5% year over year, and Adjusted EBITDA dropped 5.1% to $205.14 million.

One bright spot in the quarter was in-park spending per guest, which rose 4.4% to a record $37.39, and total revenue per capita climbed 3.8% to $78.29. Those per-capita gains show guests who do show up are spending more, which is a meaningful offset to the attendance pressure but was not enough to prevent overall revenue from slipping.

Management declined to issue formal financial guidance for the year ahead. Instead, Swanson pointed to pass sales up nearly 8% in the quarter, the 2027-specific pass base up over 15% as of October 31, and 2027 forward bookings for Discovery Cove and group business running up double digits as signals that a recovery is underway. New attractions in development include SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld Orlando and Return to Corkscrew Hill at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, both slated for 2027.

Investors will need to weigh the encouraging forward booking data against a balance sheet that carries $2.28 billion in total long-term debt, a stockholders' deficit, and a cash balance of just $26.3 million. Free cash flow fell 38.3% in the quarter, partly because capital expenditures rose 22.9% as the company invested in its 2027 attraction pipeline. The absence of formal guidance leaves the near-term earnings trajectory open to wide interpretation.