Deutsche Bank’s Chris Woronka favors Six Flags

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 00:00.000

Joining me now is Quis Waronca, senior analyst at Deutsche Bank. Chris, it's good to talk to you.

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 00:07.320

Yeah, thanks for having me, Jessica.

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 00:09.280

We saw this little bit of a dip with hotels and cruises. Talking about some consternation they had. International travel uh for the hotels was a problem. We saw cruise ships go, um maybe this part is we're not seeing forward bookings as much. But spending has been there. How are

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 00:27.360

things looking going into 2026? Are people still still going to put their money where their fun is?

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 00:35.800

Yeah, we think we think travel is a lot of well for the most part. There's always going to be a value-conscious customer out there, but we think at the at the higher end of the spectrum, the spending is going to continue. And a lot of the the cruise lines specifically are

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 00:50.560

focusing on kind of out-of-cabin spend. So these are things like private island destinations and restaurants and spas. I know you you follow Las Vegas, it's not too dissimilar from what those guys started doing probably 20 years ago or more, getting people out of the cabin, out

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 01:10.480

of the room and spending that way. And I think that's going to continue. There doesn't appear to be a lot of price sensitivity among most cruise customers. Again, there's always a value-based customer that you want to more closely.

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 01:27.480

We're we're showing the cruise stocks right now, and you mentioned that the the private island experiences and the even on board people paying for the upscale foodie type restaurants or the extra experiences, that has done very well for these cruise lines. Is there the

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 01:47.880

bifurcation in customers, high-end versus budget travelers that we have seen in so much of the other parts of the economy?

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 01:59.560

Yes. to an extent there is. We'd like to say everybody has to go on vacation even in 2009, people took a lot of vacations. They can do it differently. There's budget options available if you're a cruise customer, a lower end customer, so to speak, might choose an interior cabin,

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 02:15.920

which sounds difficult, but those exist and people people fill them. They might not spend as much outside. So there's Yeah, the higher end is clearly going to going to outperform in a cruise. And for most cruise customers, the higher end customer is going to continue spending.

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 02:30.000

Yeah.

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 02:30.480

Interestingly, your top picks for 2026 are theme parks. You've got six flags on here, which puts you in good company with Travis Kelsey and United Parks, which we used to know as SeaWorld Entertainment. Tell me why you like them.

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 02:46.160

Yeah, so even though those might be viewed as being a little bit more towards the lower income spectrum, we wouldn't necessarily call them low-end businesses. But more importantly, we think these companies are evolving, specifically in the case of Six Flags, which has a new CEO

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 03:00.000

John Riley, recently appointed Travis Kelsey is part of an investor group and will also be kind of exposure. These parts are evolving their content. We think they're going to evolve content next year. The roller coasters are still going to be there, but we think there's going to

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 03:14.720

be more immersive entertainment, things like pop-up concerts, perhaps some celebrity appearances, perhaps some different ways to enjoy dining kind of the comfort food theme. And we think that could kind of appeal to everybody. These are mostly seasonal businesses that to be be

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 03:31.440

most popular in the spring and summer months. And so we think there is going to be a more diverse offering in these theme parks. And that's really, in our opinion, not being appreciated by the market currently. So we'll have to wait and see what next summer brings.

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 03:45.200

Also interesting that you're not really hot on snow, that you think affordability is an issue for Vail. I've got 20 seconds here.

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 03:52.560

Yeah, it is. It is. These are expensive passes. And unfortunately, there's just not a lot of snow right now. The snow is great. People are willing to spend and line, but when there's not snow, it's the case now in most of the Western U.S., it's difficult to get people out there

Chris Woronka (Senior Analyst) 04:06.200

on the slopes.

Contessa Brewer (Correspondent) 04:06.800

Well, they should try upstate New York cuz upstate New York got a lot of snow and it was like skiing in Vail or in Tahoe.