Vail Resorts Posts Narrower Q1 Loss

reported a narrower loss for its fiscal first quarter on Monday. The Broomfield, Colorado-based company reported a quarterly loss of $59.6 million, or $1.63 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $64.3 million, or $1.77 per share. Its revenue climbed 36.1 percent year-over-year to $174.6 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $1.75 per share on revenue of $167.81 million. The average estimate among 38 Estimize users was for a loss of $1.75 per share and revenue of $165.58 million. Mountain segment net revenue rose 67.1 percent year-over-year to $100.9 million in the latest quarter, while lodging segment net revenue, excluding payroll cost reimbursements, surged 9.5 percent. Resort net revenue jumped 39.0 percent to $165.2 million, while real estate segment net revenue came in flat versus the year-ago period. Sales of season passes through December 5, 2015 for the 2015/2016 ski season rose around 13 percent in units and around 19 percent in sales dollars compared to the year-ago period. During the first quarter of fiscal 2016, Vail Resorts repurchased 377,830 shares for a total of $40 million. Rob Katz, Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our first fiscal quarter historically operates at a loss given that our U.S. based mountain resorts are not open for winter ski operations during the period. The quarter's results are primarily driven by our summer activities, dining, retail/rental and lodging operations, administrative expenses and, for the first time, the operating results from Perisher. We were very pleased with our results in the quarter, with strong summer visitation to our U.S. mountain resorts driving increases in all of our key lines of business bolstered by the investments we have made in new summer activities." Vail Resorts shares fell 0.59 percent to close at $122.00 on Friday.