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Vail Resorts to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN - Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter fiscal 2025 results on Dec. 9, after the closing bell. In the last reported quarter, the company reported a negative earnings surprise of 9.1%.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

MTN’s Q1 Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fiscal first-quarter bottom line is pegged at a loss of $5.15. The metric indicates an improvement of 12% from a loss of $4.60 per share reported in the year-ago quarter.

The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at nearly $249 million. The metric suggests a decline of 3.7% from the year-ago quarter’s figure.

Vail Resorts, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Vail Resorts, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Vail Resorts, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Vail Resorts, Inc. Quote

Let's look at how things have shaped up in the quarter.

Factors to Note Ahead of MTN’s Q1 Release

Vail Resorts’ fiscal first-quarter performance is likely to have been hurt by lower visitation and weather-related operational disruptions.

Season to date (through Sept. 20, 2024), the company stated that Pass product sales dropped approximately 3% in units compared with the prior-year period’s (through Sept. 22, 2023) levels for the 2024/2025 North American ski season. The downside was primarily due to a reduction in new pass holders.

Challenging weather conditions and industry normalization during the previous season led to a decline in lift visitation, which reduced the pool of guests who purchased lift tickets and could potentially convert to pass holders. Additionally, adverse weather may have contributed to delayed decision-making among prospective new customers.

Our model predicts fiscal first-quarter ski school revenues to decline 15.6% year over year to $6.1 million. Lift revenues are projected to fall 27% year over year to $33.2 million.

Lower snowfall and a shortened season in Australia are likely to have resulted in a $10 million decline in Resort-Reported EBITDA during the first quarter of fiscal 2025 compared to the prior-year period.

Higher interest expenses and increased depreciation and amortization costs due to recently completed capital projects are expected to have adversely impacted the company’s performance in the fiscal first quarter. Our model predicts depreciation and amortization costs will rise 5.5% year over year to $70.4 million. Net interest expense is projected to rise 10.4% year over year to $45 million.

What Our Model Says

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Vail Resorts this time. A stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. However, that's not the case here.

MTN’s Earnings ESP: Vail Resorts has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

MTN’s Zacks Rank: The company has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Here are some stocks from the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector that investors may consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat.

Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +18.28% and a Zacks Rank of 1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CCL’s earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 200%. It reported better-than-expected earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average earnings surprise of 318.1%.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (CHH - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.76% and currently flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1.

CHH’s earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 1.4%. It reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the other, the average surprise being 8.3%.

MGM Resorts International (MGM - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.83% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

MGM reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the other, the average surprise being 26.2%.

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