Vail Resorts will announce earnings after the bell Monday, March 9; and despite some good looking social media and hiring data, it's likely to face challenges as it sails into the teeth of one of the ugliest days in investing history.
First up is job postings - for Vail, its job postings chart reflects the seasonal nature of the snow sports business (it operates properties in Colorado, the Lake Tahoe area, Utah, Minnesota, Minneapolis, and Canada, among others). And, it's looking like things are a bit busier at Vail properties for a bit longer in 2020 - perhaps all of its West Coast destinations are benefitting from what's been a painfully meager Northeast snow season. Job postings with Vail, as of early March, are up about 66% year-over-year.
When Vail reports results Monday afternoon, analysts tracked by Zacks Investment Research are expecting EPS $5.43 - but the market has been heavily discounting Vail shares, in the global selloff taking place now and spurred on by the Coronavirus outbreak. As such, Vail stock has been poleaxed about 24% to begin 2020.
And, still, social media data is reflecting positive growth for Vail. Above, its Facebook ($FB) Check-ins chart reflects rising engagement overtime at a number of leading properties. And, below, our Twitter ($TWTR) Followers chart tracks growth over time Vail resorts.
All in all - Vail has a very unfortunate bit of timing coinciding with its big earnings report. But investors looking to put money to work with a growing luxury resort operator are now seeing a discount on its shares that weren't available any time recently - and social media and hiring data paints an optimistic perspective.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.