Six Flags Entertainment Corp/OLD
SIX · Communications · $2.7B mkt cap · FY2023 filings · · Shallow moat ·
Doesn't clear the bar
The five investor questions
2019–2023 (latest 5 aligned FYs; v3 window cap 5): revenue $1.5B to $1.4B, decreasing; diluted EPS 2.11 to 0.46, decreasing.
Median gross margin 92.0% over 4y, very stable.
Median ROIC 19.7%, above the 12% hurdle in 100% of years.
Net debt/EBITDA 5.6x, interest coverage 2x.
Owner earnings changed -7.1%/yr over up to the ten most recent annual observations.
Price vs. value if growth stopped today
A cautious baseline, not a price target: what the shares may support if normalized owner earnings simply hold steady.
- $102M
- $13.46
- $13.46
- $32.00
- 138% above value if growth stopped today
What today’s price assumes: owner earnings growing ~19%/yr over 5 years. The zero-growth estimate assumes owner earnings stay flat (0% growth).
How to read this
We solve for the constant annual change in owner earnings that would make the five-year zero-growth estimate equal today’s price. This keeps the existing model inputs and calculation unchanged; it is an expectations lens, not a forecast.
This zero-growth estimate assumes trailing owner earnings persist — unreliable for declining businesses. The recent FY revenue series does not trigger the three-consecutive-declines flag.
Among the current top-score group, the median current price is 277% above the zero-growth estimate across 49 of the current top 50 companies by Moat Score with both values.
Score records captured Nov 5, 2026.
Exactly which 50 companies?
FTNT, IBEX, META, MEDP, MSFT, GOOG, LULU, ANF, IDXX, TXRH, FHI, QLYS, FFIV, ADBE, LLY, MANH, CPRT, VEEV, RMD, GRMN, PCTY, EAT, UI, SSD, MNST, DOCS, LRCX, MCO, NTAP, NVDA, CORT, SFM, MPTI, ULTA, SN, ROL, CTAS, PAYC, IRMD, DECK, MORN, INTU, JKHY, TPR, LGCY, UCFI, DAL, GWW, ISRG, MPWR
Missing a usable price or zero-growth estimate: ANF.
Model details under moat-index@3.0.0: zero-growth multiple 11.1×, capped-growth comparison at no more than 18×; 9% discount rate; high-end growth 0% (capped at 4%) using min(5y revenue CAGR, 5y diluted-EPS CAGR), clamped to 0%–4%; maintenance capex uses min(capex, D&A); abstain when D&A is unavailable. This is a disclosed model range, not intrinsic value as fact.
15 years of fundamentals
The business, in plain English
Across the filed record, revenue grew from $1.0B (FY2011) to $1.4B (FY2023) — about 2.9% a year compounded over 12 years.
It earned 16.6% on invested capital in the latest filed year, FY2023. Across the full 3-year measurable filed record, median ROIC was 19.7%. Over the v3 recent window (3 measurable filed years), median ROIC was 19.7%. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 99/100.
The balance sheet carried $2.4B of total debt in FY2023 against $39M of owner earnings — roughly 60.7 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 0/100.
Put together: Pricing Power is the strongest of the five filters (100/100) and Balance-Sheet Safety the weakest (0/100), which is how SIX lands at 52/100 — a Shallow moat.
This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.
Exact FY and FY-1 financing invested-capital inputs are required.. Current-year EBIT, tax expense, and non-zero pretax income are required for standard ROIC.
The explained ROIC gaps have filed inputs but no meaningful positive invested-capital denominator. Other gaps mean the item is not in the filings for that year. The series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.
Visual explainers
The filing-backed explainer service is temporarily unavailable, so no partial or guessed chart is shown.
Moat Score history
Score history begins Nov 5, 2026 — the record builds forward from here.
Tier changesSame-methodology and same-normalizer crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars
None yet — SIX has read Shallow moat for every logged capture since Nov 5, 2026.
Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record cannot be reconstructed retroactively, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.
Insider activity
Form 4 reports mix P/S market or private transactions with compensation-plan mechanics. Activity casually described as “insider selling” can include compensation mechanics; awards, tax withholding, and option exercises are shown by their exact filed class here, never collapsed into “Bought” or “Sold.”
These are disclosed filing facts and arithmetic aggregates, not a signal or verdict.
The insider-filing service is temporarily unavailable, so no partial or guessed answer is shown for SIX.
Communications context
#28 of 137 scored Communications companies, ranked by Moat Score.
Nearest peers by Moat Score
- #26ADEA ADEIA INC.54.0 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #27CPHC Canterbury Park Holding Corp52.4 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #29CCZ COMCAST CORPORATION51.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #30NMAX NEWSMAX INC.51.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
Compare SIX with its nearest peers →All Communications companies on the Index →
Common questions about SIX
- Does Six Flags Entertainment Corp/OLD have an economic moat?
- Based on its FY2023 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores Six Flags Entertainment Corp/OLD (SIX) 52.1 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The five questions behind that score begin at 20% each; if exactly one genuinely lacks data, the other four weights are renormalized and disclosed. revenue and EPS trend 23, pricing power 100, returns on capital 99, balance-sheet safety 0, capital allocation 39.
- Is SIX trading below the conservative owner-earnings estimate?
- The value if growth stopped today — a zero-growth baseline — is $13.46 per share. It capitalizes normalized owner earnings at a 9% rate and assumes 0% growth. Versus a recent price of $32.00, that is 138% above value if growth stopped today. The model also publishes a capped-growth comparison, but the zero-growth estimate is the cautious baseline. It assumes trailing owner earnings persist and is unreliable for declining businesses. This is an educational estimate from primary SEC filings, not intrinsic value as a fact or investment advice.
- How has SIX's Moat Score changed over time?
- The record logs 1 reading since Nov 5, 2026; the latest reads 52.1 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.