Surprise! Cedar Fair CEO on Mad Money

Thanks for the heads up. DVRing it.

Thanks for posting this, Rob. I had seen Cramer talking about it a couple of times that day and forgot to watch his show. Thanks to seeing this, I was able to record the 3:00 am NBC rerun and I watched it tonight.

"Segmenting our customers". I've heard him use that phrase a number of times and he is sticking to it. I think not only is fast lane here to stay but that we'll be seeing other extra pay features for the "benefit oriented consumer" coming in the future.

I like Mr. Ouimet. He seems to be saying the right things and seems ready to back it up. I hope they're successful.

- Jeff

I'm glad you got to see it. Actually I just deleted it from the DVR last night but still remember most of what he said. I thought it was interesting that he spent more time talking about their operating philosophy rather than their finance and FUN as an investment.

He did mention that attendance was up and specifically so are season pass sales, but there was no mention of their near bankruptcy, Apollo or the recession and the Paramount buyout was only scrolled by in the banner at the bottom of the screen... all of which probably have something to do with why sales are up.

Just after CF bought the PP's they were just getting started basically, having to get out of the Nick licenses and such, then the recession hit and meanwhile they have 1.4B in debt and no one has any money. They did the right thing putting in a series of huge crowd pleasing coasters... granted that was a gamble - but now the economy has stabilized somewhat and even if it has not improved, at least people know how much they can afford to spend and are able to balance their discretionary expenditures.

So in other words, if they didn't go under completely, then things just had to get better. 2009 was a terrible year, and as long as they didn't do everything wrong it could only get better. That's my take anyway. I don't agree with everything they've done but at least it worked.

Also Cramer's jabs at SF were definitely worth a chuckle.

RobLec said:

Also Cramer's jabs at SF were definitely worth a chuckle.

Made me chuckle, too. He couldn't egg Ouimet into saying anything, though.

Did he also mention that their debt payments will be lower next year? I thought he did but I don't recall for certain. It was when he was saying they should eclipse the $2.00 distribution target for 2013.

I was surprised to hear about the upped dividends. I don't own FUN so don't follow it, but $2 for a $30 stock is in line with Intel and similar stocks.

He did only briefly mention debt payments briefly and I'm surprised it doesn't weigh on them more heavily. He does appear to be a very personable and effective CEO.

That was a great segment.Here is the link if you missed the show.It is from CNBC.com. http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000103372&play=1

Cedar Fair CEO on Mad Money

I know it's not CF related, but speaking about stocks: I'm surprised at how high Six flags has risen since last year. Last year it was about $70, now $53 (2 for 1 split or $106). I wasn't sure if it was going to stick, but now I'm kicking myself for not investing then. I'm not going to buy high now if the price ends up sinking.