Analyst up on Six Flags stock

Posted | Contributed by SF Critic

Shares of theme park company Six Flags Inc. gained Thursday, after an analyst expressed confidence in new Chief Executive Mark Shapiro's ability to turn around the company by selling off assets. Bear Stearns analyst R. Glen Reid said that Shapiro, whom Snyder hand-picked, brings an "impressive" background as a former top executive from Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN.

Read more from AP via Yahoo.

You know, people are going to complain about the selling off of assets and excess land. These are the same people that constantly throw the $2 billion debt figure in their (SF) faces. Be careful what you ask for...

Despite the flood of news today and yesterday, I don't see how an analyst can be that sure that all of this talk will translate into a significantly better financial picture. If we can learn anything from the Geauga Lake story it's that poor reputations are hard to overcome.

Is Geauga Lake really a good example though? I'm sure some people liked the park originally, but it didn't seem to me like that park ever had much of a reputation to begin with. And I can't help but wonder if without Six Flag's invovement, we'd been talking about another park's closing.

Poor reputations are hard to overcome, so people must be excited about what they're hearing, especially given the alternative, the blaming of the weather and other excuses. Only time will tell whether all this means anything permanant though, and I do expect any "deep" improvement will come over the next sevearl years. This is a facinating start, no doubt.

Geauga Lake pre-Six Flags was just as much an institution to Clevelanders as Cedar Point. As a kid I didn't even see a difference between the two.

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