After a Lousy 2025, Can Theme Park Stocks Bounce Back in 2026?

2025 should have been a great year for the publicly traded operators of national theme parks and regional amusement parks. Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) opened the country's first major theme park in more than 24 years in the spring. The arrival of Epic Universe in Orlando attracted record tourism revenue in Central Florida, boding well for nearby rivals Disney (NYSE: DIS) and SeaWorld parent United Parks (NYSE: PRKS). Meanwhile, Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE: FUN) was going to unlock synergies during the first full year of its combination with Cedar Fair.

But like a turnstile with a fierce kickback, the thrills were quickly overcome by the pain. The 2025 stock charts aren't pretty for most of the major players. Even Disney -- the only one that didn't punish investors with a double-digit percentage decline last year -- was trounced by the market following its 4% rise.

• Six Flags: Down 68%
• United Parks: Down 35%
• Comcast: Down 20%
• Disney: Up 4%

Image source: Getty Images.

Epic disappointment

The ingredients were in place for success last year. Pick a park chain, any park chain. The recipe just didn't come together.

Comcast's Epic Universe opened with no shortage of buzz in May. Long lines, unreliable attractions, and poor strategic weather planning turned that buzz into a bee sting. The park's ratings on leading review aggregator sites remain well below those of Disney World and Comcast's other Orlando theme parks.

This doesn't mean that the park is a failure. It just means that when a guest is dissatisfied, that person lets everybody know. And it doesn't mean that Epic Universe doesn't have a lot to do in 2026 to increase its capacity to match the area's six more visited theme parks.

Financially speaking, Epic Universe has provided a boost for Comcast when it needed it the most. In the third quarter -- the first full quarter of the park's operations -- its theme park segment posted a 19% increase in revenue on a 13% jump in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

Unfortunately for Comcast stock, it wasn't enough to spare the entire company from posting declines in revenue, net income, and adjusted EBITDA of 3%, 5%, and 1% respectively, for the summer quarter. Its much larger legacy cable TV and broadband businesses are fading too quickly to be saved by its theme parks, which account for just 9% of the revenue and 10% of the adjusted EBITDA.

A cruel carousel

As a pure play in the industry, Six Flags can only blame its amusement parks for surrendering more than two-thirds of its value last year. When the country's two largest amusement park operators came together in the summer of 2024, it was a no-brainer. Six Flags had the brand and the scalability. Cedar Fair had the operational acumen. Reality has been fumbled so badly that even Taylor Swift's fiancé Travis Kelce, as a potential activist investor, has failed to reverse the steep roller-coaster drop of a stock chart.

Instead of cost-saving synergies driving profitability higher, EBITDA and net profit margin contracted last year. Six Flags will post a loss in 2025 on declining pro forma revenue. With Six Flags eyeing divestitures, dreams of scalability have also taken a hit. Profitability targets for 2026 have recently been reined in, leaving the thrill park operator lucky to break even in the year ahead.

United Parks is also an enigma. The company behind SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Sesame Place, and a handful of water parks was trading higher in 2025 as late as September. The shares would plummet in November after falling woefully short of market expectations on a decline in attendance during its peak summer quarter.

Disney was the only name to move higher in 2025, but the marginal step up is no victory lap for the media stock giant. The theme parks did their part. The experiences segment -- led by its gated attractions and expanding fleet of cruise ships -- delivered a 6% rise in revenue on an 8% increase in EBITDA for the 2025 fiscal year. It's just hard to cheer on a stock moving 4% higher when the general market's ascent was in the mid-teens.

The outlook is better for 2026

The good news for investors is that the year ahead holds promise, and the stocks are trading largely at compelling valuations. Comcast, United Parks, and Disney are fetching forward earnings multiples of 7, 10, and 15, respectively. Comcast's overall business will continue to contract in 2026, but these are still historically attractive ratios.

The bullish argument for Six Flags doesn't rest on this year's bottom line or even next year's target. You have to go all the way out to 2028 before you get a forward multiple comparable to what the other three players are currently commanding, but this is also an asset play. Shrinking its empire through asset sales isn't ideal, but it does help shore up a debt-bloated balance sheet.

Focusing on Six Flags' top attractions should also help margins expand again. The recent activist investing efforts could be a cheat code for shortening the recovery timeline. In other words, Six Flags might still join its peers in bouncing back this year after a challenging 2025.

Rick Munarriz has positions in Comcast and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Six Flags Entertainment and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast and United Parks & Resorts. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.