Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN) FY2026 Earnings: Revenue $2.8B (-4.3%)
MTN — FY2026 Financial Report Analysis
Full Year · Fiscal year 2026 · Published by Pham Hop
Vail Resorts' record-low-snow winter cut skier visits 13.4% but revenue only 4.3% thanks to pre-sold Epic Passes; net income fell 47% to $147.5M on higher interest and one-offs, and 2026/27 pass units are down 12%.
Revenue
$2.8B
-4.3% YoY
Net income
$148M
-47.3% YoY
Diluted EPS
$4.12
-45.3% YoY
Operating margin
14.8%
This period vs a year ago
Same period last year
This period
Revenue▼-4.3%
≈$3.0B
$2.8B
Net income▼-47.3%
≈$280M
$148M
Diluted EPS▼-45.3%
≈$7.53
$4.12
Year-ago figures (≈) are worked out from the growth rate the company reported. Each row has its own scale.
Vail Resorts' fiscal 2026 (the 12 months to July 31, 2026) was defined by one of the worst snow years on record in the western U.S. Skier visits fell 13.4%, but total revenue fell only 4.3% to $2.84 billion, because most lift revenue had already been collected through Epic Pass sales before the season started. Profit took a much bigger hit: net income attributable to shareholders fell 47.3% to $147.5 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) fell from $7.53 to $4.12, as higher interest costs and a string of non-operating items piled on top of the weather.
At a glance
Skier visits down 13.4%, lift revenue down only 3.5%. Season-pass revenue rose 3.9% ($38.8 million) and cushioned the fall, while money from walk-up lift tickets fell 17.5%. The pass model worked as a shock absorber.
Resort EBITDA of $745.7 million, down 11.7%. EBITDA is profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, and is the company's main yardstick. It fell by a smaller share than net income, landing near the middle of the $735–755 million range management gave in June.
Pass sales for next winter are down 12% in units and 6% in dollars (through September 18), a little worse than the -10% units / -5% dollars reported in June. Fewer people have committed in advance to the season that funds fiscal 2027.
Fiscal 2026 results
Metric
FY2026
FY2025
YoY Change
Total net revenue
$2,838.2M
$2,964.3M
-4.3%
Resort net revenue (Mountain + Lodging)
$2,832.0M
$2,963.9M
-4.5%
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Income from operations
$420.5M
$560.0M
-24.9%
Operating margin
14.8%
18.9%
-4.1 pts
Net income attributable to Vail Resorts
$147.5M
$280.0M
-47.3%
Diluted EPS
$4.12
$7.53
-45.3%
Resort Reported EBITDA
$745.7M
$844.1M
-11.7%
Resort EBITDA margin
26.3%
28.5%
-2.2 pts
Total skier visits
15.30M
17.67M
-13.4%
Effective ticket price (ETP)
$94.85
$85.09
+11.5%
Operating margin is the share of revenue left after running the business, before interest and tax. Effective ticket price (ETP) is lift revenue divided by skier visits, meaning what the company earned, on average, each time someone skied. Resort EBITDA margin for FY2025 is calculated from the company's reported figures.
What the snow drought did, line by line
Management calls the winter "the most difficult weather environment we have ever experienced": snowfall in the Rockies was at or near historic lows, and in the 10-K's words, "record low snowfall and historically warm temperatures across the western U.S." limited open terrain and led to "earlier closures for many resorts in the Rockies and Tahoe regions." Australia's resorts also started their 2026 season with poor snow.
Where it hurt most was the money guests spend once they arrive. In the Mountain segment:
Mountain revenue line
FY2026
FY2025
Change
Lift
$1,451.1M
$1,503.2M
-3.5%
Ski school
$278.1M
$309.9M
-10.3%
Dining
$222.5M
$240.9M
-7.6%
Retail/rental
$282.8M
$302.5M
-6.5%
Other
$268.8M
$273.5M
-1.7%
Total Mountain
$2,503.2M
$2,629.9M
-4.8%
Lift revenue held up best because pass holders pay before the season whether or not it snows. Ski lessons, restaurants and rental shops depend on people actually showing up, and fell 7–10%. The 11.5% jump in ETP is not a price increase guests felt: it is mostly a mix effect. Lift revenue is spread over fewer visits, and pre-paid pass revenue made up a bigger share of it. The price of walk-up tickets actually moved the other way: paid ETP fell 8.8%, which the company attributes to more visits at cheaper eastern U.S. resorts and to new discounts (the "Epic Friends" benefit tickets and a "super advance" ticket bought about a month ahead).
Costs helped. Mountain operating expense fell $37.8 million (2.1%), including $24.6 million lower labor costs from fewer staff hours. The resource efficiency transformation plan, the company's cost-cutting program, delivered $45 million of savings. Incentive pay that wasn't earned cut another $16.7 million. Against that, the company spent an extra $20 million on marketing to push pass and ticket sales. The Lodging segment (hotels and condos near the resorts) was weaker: its EBITDA fell 28.4% to $16.3 million as managed-condo revenue per available room dropped 9.7%.
The fourth quarter (May–July, the off-season) was a routine seasonal loss: revenue of $278.1 million against $271.3 million a year earlier, and a net loss of $190.2 million compared with $182.4 million. Grand Teton Lodge Company did well; Australia, where snowfall ran about 57% below its 10-year average, did not.
Takeaway: The pass model did its job. A 13% drop in visits turned into only a 4.5% drop in resort revenue and an 11.7% drop in resort EBITDA. The weak spot is next year's cushion: pass unit sales for 2026/27 are down 12%, and the decline got deeper between May and September rather than recovering. That means fiscal 2027 depends more on walk-up ticket sales, which are exactly what a bad snow year hurts most.
What the headline numbers hide
Net income fell four times faster than EBITDA, and most of the gap isn't operations. Pre-tax income fell $175.4 million while total reported EBITDA fell $109.7 million. The difference came from: $34.0 million higher net interest expense (from $500 million of 5.625% notes issued in July 2025 and a bigger term loan); a $19.2 million charge for the change in fair value of contingent consideration (vs $9.4 million), an accounting estimate tied to the Park City lease; a $6.8 million loss on disposals, including a $4.0 million write-off of abandoned planning projects (vs a $6.9 million gain the year before); and $9.2 million more depreciation.
One-offs cut both ways. FY2026 included about $11 million of one-time restructuring costs from the efficiency plan. FY2025 carried $8.1 million of CEO transition costs and larger gains on real estate sales ($24.4 million vs $13.2 million this year). Neither year is "clean," but the differences roughly offset at the EBITDA level.
Buybacks softened the EPS drop slightly. Diluted shares fell 3.8% (to 35.8 million) after $270 million of buybacks in FY2025 and $45 million in FY2026. With last year's share count, EPS would have fallen about 47% instead of 45%. The tax rate edged down to 24.8% from 25.9%, a minor help.
Cash flow covered profit but not the dividend. Operating cash flow was $479.6 million, well above net income of $170.7 million, mainly because $305.6 million of depreciation is a non-cash cost. After $231.6 million of capital spending, free cash flow (our calculation) was about $248 million, down from about $320 million. Dividends alone were $317.1 million, plus $45 million of buybacks. The gap came out of the cash balance, which fell from $440.3 million to $231.3 million.
Leverage is up. Net debt rose to $2.92 billion from $2.75 billion, or 3.9 times trailing EBITDA (about 3.2 times a year ago, by our calculation). Stockholders' equity shrank to $240.5 million from $424.5 million. The company still holds about $0.8 billion of liquidity and kept the quarterly dividend at $2.22.
Two warning signs in working capital. Deferred revenue, which is mostly pass money collected in advance, pulled $39.6 million out of cash flow this year after adding $26.4 million last year. That fits the weaker pass sales. Inventory rose 14.9% to $134.6 million even though retail/rental revenue fell 6.5%, so there is more unsold gear on the shelves going into the season.
Guidance held. Net income of $147.5 million and resort EBITDA of $745.7 million both landed inside the ranges from the June update ($128–162 million and $735–755 million), after the company cut its outlook in April and confirmed the lower range in June.
Outlook: fiscal 2027
Management guides to net income of $158–233 million and resort EBITDA of $805–865 million, including about $14 million of one-time costs. At the $835 million midpoint that is 12% above fiscal 2026, with a resort EBITDA margin of about 26.9%. This rests on three assumptions: normal weather, higher lift-ticket visitation and prices, and about $25 million of extra cost savings. Management expects lower pass demand, normal cost growth and more spending on its "Epic Experience" growth plan to take part of that back.
Our read: the recovery case needs close to normal snow. Last season's 3.9% pass-revenue gain came from sales made before anyone knew the winter would be bad. This year's pass sales come after a bad winter, and they are down 6% in dollars. Price increases and a shift toward unlimited passes are holding up revenue per pass, but the drop is concentrated in lower-frequency "Destination" passes, bought by travelers who ski a few days a year. Management suggests those buyers may be delaying rather than leaving and could come back through later pass sales or lift tickets. If that happens, the guidance is reachable. If the Rockies get another thin winter, fewer pass holders means less protection than this year, while interest costs, now above $200 million a year, don't depend on the weather.
Governance is also in play. The 10-K discloses that the company received two nominations totaling five director candidates for its 2026 annual meeting, and activist Schedule 13D filings followed in September. Watch for December's calendar 2027 capital plan and the pass-sales update with fiscal Q1 results, the last read on advance commitments before the season.