Vail Resorts’ fiscal third- quarter earnings climbed 18 percent as higher visitation rates and ticket prices boosted results for the largest ski-resort owner in the U.S.
The company topped analysts’ expectations but has been plagued by sharply lower revenue in its real-estate segment. Like other leisure businesses, ski havens were hit last year by weak consumer spending. Vail, the only publicly traded ski-resort owner, owns Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California.
For the quarter that ended April 30, Vail reported a profit of $72.8 million, $1.98 a share, up from $61.6 million, $1.68 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 5 percent to $350.3 million as real-estate revenue plunged by two-thirds to $3.2 million.
Analysts had forecast earnings of $1.85 a share on $341 million in revenue.
Revenue in Vail’s mountain segment rose 8.3 percent as average ticket prices increased 1.3 percent amid a slightly lower rate of season-pass holders.
