Amusement Park Stocks

It's Summer Time Summer time is here! Every year during this time the kids and teenagers are probably the happiest as they finally can throw away the text books, forget all about homeworks and tests and enjoy everyday as weekends. Well actually not only the young ones are the happiest during the summer but also some of the business owners probably would also enjoy the summer holidays. No, they are not gettings days off. They are actually working harder and expect a lot more cash coming in. Who are these people? The amusement parks owners.

Here are the amusement park companies:

• Six Flags Inc. (SIX): the amusement park is famous for its thrilling roller coaster rides. In addition the company also owns water parks which should attract visitors in a hot summer. The company however has been troubled by mounting debt and is considering selling its top attraction in Northern L.A. - Magic Mountain despite the park bringing 2 million fearless roller coaster riders every year. The company is also thinking of selling its water parks in Concord, Buffalo, Denver, Seattle and Houston to cut its $2.1 billion debt. The debt problem is why shares of the nation's second-largest theme park operator haven't done well this year, dropping from near $12 in February to $5.4 recently, basically erased the gains for the past 52 weeks. Now as the hot season for amusement parks is here, let's see if it will ease the investor worry and bring the stock back up.
• Cedar Fair LP (FUN): the Sandusky, Ohio based company owns amusement parks throughout the nations including Cedar Point(Ohio), Knott's Berry Farm (California), Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom(Pennsylvania), Valleyfair(Minnesota), Worlds of Fun(Missouri) Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom(Ohio) and Michigan's Adventure (Michigan). The company generated annual revenue of $567 million about half of Six Flag's $1.08 billion yet is getting net income of $159.91 million compared with Six Flag's $149.77 million net loss which is probably why the company actually has almost three times of Six Flag's market cap at $1.38 billion. However the stock hasn't done well for the past 52 weeks as it slided from $32 last July to $25.54 recently. Recently the insiders have been buying shares so they probably must be expecting a great summer for the parks and the stock.
• Walt Disney Co. (DIS): speaking of amusement park you don't want to miss the nation's largest and most famous amusement park operator - Walt Disney Co. The 64 billion diversified entertainment company has been making quite a comeback this year rising from $24 per share in January to $29.83 recently as new CEO has brought in exciting partners such as Steve Job's Apple Inc. As the famous Disneyland is celebrating 50 year anniversary with massive marketing and the company's movie arm is making box office hit, do expect the company to bring good numbers and help the stock to go higher heading into summer.
• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (BUD): yup.. this is the company which makes the famous Budweiser beer. Not only that the St. Louis based beer maker also owns popular theme parks such as SeaWorld in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio. The company also operates Adventure Island and Busch Gardents in Tampa Bay and Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. The stock is poised for more upside during the summer as it has rose from 52 weeks low of $40 in early February to $46 recently.
• Vivendi (V):