SeaWorld Entertainment Shares Make A Splash On First Day Of Trading

SeaWorld’s initial IPO may have gotten off to a good start last night, with shares selling at the top of an expected range at $27, but it blew everyone out of the water today when shares rose an additional 28 percent reaching a high of $34.57 and closing at $33.52. A total of 26 million shares were put on the market—10 million offered by SeaWorld and another 16 million sold by the Blackstone Group LP, which bought the entertainment company from Anheuser Busch InBev in December 2009 for $2.3 billion. Although Blackstone is selling shares in the public offering, it will retain control of the company. After all, it invested about $1 billion of equity in the deal, and stands to continue profiting from the theme parks after it received dividends of $500 million last year and $110.1 million the year before.

Sea World Entertainment (SEAS) includes the three main theme parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio, as well as the Bush Gardens parks in Tampa and Williamsburg, Va., and six other parks throughout the country. Since the Blackstone acquisition, SeaWorld has added products such as iPhone and Android apps, as well as an additional theme park. But the increased profits have been nothing less than outstanding. The company earned $77.4 million last year, quadruple its 2011 revenue. With business so good, it plans to pay new investors a 20-cent-per-share dividend starting this quarter.

Blackstone is the largest alternative investment firm in the world. Yesterday the company said its first-quarter profit rose 28 percent to $628 million. The firm is rumored to have considered private takeover offers for SeaWorld, but in the end it turned them down, opting to go public with the company. In January, Blackstone invited two Magellanic penguins to its Manhattan offices in honor of the upcoming IPO. And although the penguins were well-received, one source acknowledged they did drop some unexpected gifts onto the carpet.

With the IPO out of the way, SeaWorld plans to open a 3.6-acre development at its Orlando park based on an Antarctic theme later this year. The area will offer a new ride, a walk-through penguin habitat, as well as dining and retail locations. In honor of the new theme, SeaWorld will also introduce an animated penguin character named “Puck.”

SeaWorld will also soon open an aquatic park near its Sand Diego park. After purchasing the water park from Cedar Fair LP last year for $15 million, the company turned the facility into its 11th park.

In presentations to potential investors, SeaWorld says its long-term targets include annual revenue growth ranging between 3.5 and 4.5 percent.

“We like what we see,” Sea World president and CEO Jim Atchison said. “We feel encouraged by the broader macro-economic environment.”

SeaWorld Entertainment shares are now trading under the ticker symbol “SEAS.”

By WallStreetInsanity.com