Six Flags Pops 7% On Peanuts Deal Extension… But FUN Has Been Anything But Fun This Year

I don’t know how you feel about rollercoasters, but I was dumb enough to climb into Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster… the one that fires you 120 mph straight up 420 feet before dropping you back down to earth. While I admit it’s fun when you’re strapped in… it’s pretty terrifying when it’s your portfolio. And that’s basically been the Six Flags stock experience this year. It launched with a burst of energy, stalled out at the peak, and then plunged 52%... the kind of drop that can make even veteran investors lose their lunch. At this point, holding onto FUN doesn’t look like “long-term conviction”… it looks more like unpaid stunt work. Most of Wall Street seems to agree, since they’ve already hopped off the ride and exited through the gift shop.

With all that said, Six Flags actually delivered a little good news this week. The stock popped 7% on Friday after management said attendance rebounded late in the summer and… shockingly… reaffirmed full-year guidance (“We’re not dead yet.”) Over the nine weeks ending Aug. 31, the parks welcomed 17.8 million guests, up 2% from last year. August alone brought in an extra 172,000 thrill-seekers willing to sweat through 95-degree lines for the privilege of buying $8 lemonades in plastic mugs shaped like Bugs Bunny’s head.

(Source: Cleveland.com)

Essentially, management is sticking to their $860M-$910M EBITDA target, basically saying: “Yes, we papered the place with discounts, but we’ll still pay the bills.” Early 2026 season pass sales are pacing ahead of last year too, and prices are up about 3%. Data shows that people are literally pre-paying for next year’s nausea… that’s cash flow Six Flags desperately needs.  

(Source: Stock Titan)

But let’s not get carried away. Per-capita spending in the parks dropped 4%, with admissions revenue falling 7% thanks to all those “we swear it’s fun again” promotions. (Six Flags right now is your buddy who keeps crawling back to the same toxic ex, swearing this time it’s different… while everyone else is quietly placing bets on how long it lasts.) People did spend a hair more on food, merch, and carnival games, but not nearly enough to offset the cheaper tickets.

On the brighter side, debt isn’t exactly a death sentence here. In practice, that means no looming maturities ready to trip them up and no covenants hanging by a thread. Add to that a fresh extension of the Peanuts partnership through 2030, and Snoopy will keep hawking overpriced plushies for another five years. (At this point, that beagle’s corporate career has outlasted half the S&P 500.)

Still, even after the rally, the stock is down by half. And for a ticker that literally spells out FUN, it’s about time they gave shareholders something resembling joy. Then again, the stock is still off 21% over the last five years… so maybe a rebrand to PAIN would be more accurate.

At the time this article was published Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in article.