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Vail Resorts$MTN · filed: saw revenue fall 4.3% in FY2026 to $2.8BNew shipTrillion Score 505Fall Risk MediumNext year $2.3B–$3.2B sealedCheck ▾Close ▴
What Vail Resorts filed
Saw revenue fall 4.3% in FY2026 to $2.8 billion, operating margin 14.8% against a 7.0% median for miscellaneous amusement & recreation, equity 4.4% of assets. Every figure links to the filing it came from on Vail Resorts’s card. New ship: no warning signs. Trillion Score 505, #8 of 17 in its field; Fall Risk Medium (how it is measured).
What the house said in advance
Revenue for the fiscal year after 2026-07-31 between $2.3B and $3.2B, an 80% range sealed on 28 Sept 2026 · receipt #a40dab · graded in public by the revenue in Vail Resorts’s next annual report.
Figures as filed with the SEC. Ranges, scores and boats are statistical descriptions of past filings, not ratings or recommendations. Reporting, not advice.
In plain words
Three antitrust suits in nine months plus proxy pressure test Vail's **$7.8B** valuation; watch November season-pass data.
debt load and its reluctance to divest non-core assets…
Gary Peterson, a Minnesota-based shareholder, filed suit against Vail Resorts and its executive leadership in late August, marking the company's third antitrust case since January. The timing overlaps with an ongoing proxy fight, creating simultaneous legal and governance pressure on a $7.8 billion ski resort operator already navigating soft season-pass renewals and operational missteps at flagship properties.
Peterson's complaint names senior executives directly, a structural detail that distinguishes this filing from the two prior antitrust cases, which focused primarily on corporate conduct rather than individual liability. The suit alleges anticompetitive behavior across Vail's network of 42 North American resorts, though specific claims remain under seal. Vail declined comment beyond confirming receipt of the filing. The company's general counsel roster has expanded by two positions since March, according to internal filings reviewed separately.
The legal escalation arrives as an unnamed activist investor builds a stake believed to exceed 4.9%, just below the SEC's public-disclosure threshold. That campaign, which began circulating a private presentation in July, targets board composition and capital allocation, specifically Vail's $1.1 billion debt load and its reluctance to divest non-core assets like its Australian holdings. The activist's thesis hinges on operational inefficiency: Vail's EBITDA per skier visit declined 6.2% year-over-year in fiscal 2025, even as lift-ticket prices rose 4.1%. Institutional holders have taken nine meetings with the activist since late June, per proxy-solicitation logs.
Three antitrust suits in nine months signal either coordinated strategy or spontaneous convergence around a perceived vulnerability. The Justice Department opened a preliminary review of ski-industry consolidation in February, following complaints from independent operators in Vermont and Colorado. That review remains open but has not advanced to a formal investigation. Vail controls roughly 18% of North American skiable terrain by acreage, double its nearest competitor, Alterra Mountain Company. The DOJ historically hesitates to act on geographic-market definitions in recreational industries, but the multiple private suits create discovery pathways that federal enforcers sometimes monitor.
Allocators should watch three developments: the proxy's formal filing deadline, expected by late October under standard scheduling; any motion to consolidate the three antitrust cases into multidistrict litigation, which would streamline discovery and signal plaintiff coordination; and Vail's season-pass sales data for winter 2026-27, released in early November, which will clarify whether brand damage is affecting revenue capture. Institutional ownership sits at 87%, with Vanguard and BlackRock holding a combined 23%, both of which have voted against management on say-on-pay twice in three years.
Vail's board meets October 12th. Two directors' terms expire in 2026, and neither has confirmed they will stand for reelection.
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For the principal
If you hold Vail or peer leisure names, the October board meeting and November pass-sales print will clarify governance and revenue trajectory risk.
For the operator
Track institutional voting patterns on Vail's upcoming proxy and monitor whether the three antitrust cases consolidate, which would accelerate discovery timelines and headline risk.
For the house
We are flat Vail across named accounts; will reassess post-proxy filing if activist's capital-allocation thesis gains traction with the top-three institutional holders.
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