Theme Park Stocks With End of the Year News for Investors (SEAS, SIX, FUN & IFLM)

As the year draws to a close, theme park stocks like SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE: SEAS), Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE: SIX), Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) and Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS: IFLM) still have some news for investors to digest for the year closes. Just consider the following news:

SeaWorld Entertainment And Its Backers Continue to Face Blowback From Blackfish. As 2013 comes to an end, SeaWorld Entertainment continues to struggle to try and contain the blowback from "Blackfish," a feature-length documentary that casts the theme-park operator's orca shows in an unfavorable light. However, the Wall Street Journal's MoneyBeat blog has pointed out that the problems could spill over to potentially hit SeaWorld Entertainment's backer, The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX), which continues to own about 40% of SeaWorld (a stake that is worth about $1 billion). Specifically, public pension funds like the Florida State Board of Administration, the Texas Teachers Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System all have stakes in the buyout fund Blackstone tapped to buy SeaWorld. However and so far, The Blackstone Group L.P. hasn't heard complaints from its investors. SeaWorld Entertainment is down 14.9% since last April for retail investors.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp Gets a Better Borrowing Deal. Six Flags Entertainment Corp, the world's largest regional theme park company with 18 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has announced today that its bank lenders have approved a reduction to the company's borrowing rates. Moreover, bank lenders also approved Six Flags Entertainment Corp's ability to use up to $200 million of its excess cash on hand for general corporate purposes - including potential share repurchases. Six Flags Entertainment Corp is up 19.8% since the start of the year and up 293% since May 2010.

Cedar Fair, L.P. Recently Saw a Volume Spike. On December 18th during the week before Christmas, Cedar Fair, L.P., one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world that owns and operates 11 amusement parks, three outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels, saw a big trading volume spike with 557,341 shares being traded verses a daily trading average of around 128,520. That could mean some investors were adding to their positions, but I am not seeing any filings disclosing large share transactions. Cedar Fair, L.P. is down slightly since then on more subdued trading volume, but the stock is up 44.75% since the start of the year and up 296.2% since January 2009.  

Independent Film Development Corporation. Los Angeles based Independent Film Development Corporation may not be on the radar or trading screens of many investors or theme park aficionados, but it's a small cap theme park stock that intends to develop genre themed studio style resorts. The company has recently announced an exclusive broker agreement with Beverly Hills based Camden Realty Group (CRG) for assistance in finding and acquiring suitable properties for development nationwide with the first project being the "Hilltop Manor Theme Resort and Production Studios."

The proposed genre theme park and resort would be built in New York's Catskill Mountains and will be dedicated to the horror and science fiction genres of film and television. Independent Film Development Corporation's current plans call for a luxurious 320 room 4 or 5 star hotel plus an old fashioned hedge maze; a lake with a "monster" living in it along with an island with castle ruins; and a number of rides having an "overall theme of the mysterious, the unexplained and the supernatural" with the overall park being a "place where people will be able to collectively celebrate things that go bump in the night." Independent Film Development Corporation is also up 225% since the start of the year.