MeritValue

United Parks & Resorts Inc.

PRKSdata completeness 100%15 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

United Parks & Resorts Inc. earns about 21% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 31% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $9.28 and $44.13 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$1.5B1$1.73B2$1.73B3$1.73B3$1.66B3
Net income$256.5M4$291.2M5$234.2M6$227.5M6$168.4M6
Operating cash flow$503M7$564.6M8$504.9M9$480.1M9$380.1M9
Capital expenditure$128.9M10$200.7M11$304.8M12$248.4M12$217.5M12
Free cash flow (derived)$374.2M7$363.9M8$200.1M9$231.7M9$162.6M9
Total debt$2.12B13$2.11B14$2.11B15$2.24B16$2.23B16
Cash & equivalents$443.7M17$79.2M18$246.9M19$115.9M20$99.8M20
Diluted shares79.6M70.3M64.5M60.0M55.0M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
−$79.25
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$30.61
Free cash flow it threw off
$29.57
Debt you’d be carrying
$406.09

10 shares is a claim on −$79.25 of net worth that earned you $30.61 and generated $29.57 of cash last year, against $406.09 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
21% avg · 5y
FY21 23%FY22 24%FY23 21%FY24 22%FY25 16%

It earned about 21% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−31% shares · 5y

Share count is down 31% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has held roughly steady.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $9.28 and $44.13 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$9.28
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$200.1M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$13.19
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$200.1M
Earnings Power Value
$44.13
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$234.2M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
not applicable
book value / share count missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $13.19
The three cases
Bear0.0%$13.19
Base0.0%$13.19
Bull5.0%$25.77

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 0.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-005599 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-005599 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-023162 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-030398 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-088288 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)