LTH

Carnival Corporation Ltd. CCL reported better-than-expected third-quarter fiscal 2026 (ended Aug. 31) results, with both adjusted earnings and revenues surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues increased on a year-over-year basis, while adjusted earnings remained flat. Carnival delivered all-time-high revenues and net yields in constant currency, supported by continued demand strength and cost discipline. Net yields increased 2.4% year over year in constant currency, more than one percentage point better than the June guidance. Adjusted EBITDA also exceeded the company's June guidance by $110 million despite higher fuel costs. For the quarter under review, the company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.43, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.36 by 5.1%. Carnival Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Carnival Corporation Quote Revenues in the quarter totaled $8.44 billion, beating the consensus mark of $8.36 billion by 0.9%. The metric increased 3.5% year over year from $8.15 billion. During the quarter, passenger ticket revenues amounted to $5.53 billion, up 1.8% from $5.43 billion reported in the prior-year quarter. Our estimate for passenger ticket revenues was pegged at $5.6 billion. Onboard and other revenues increased 6.7% to $2.91 billion from $2.72 billion reported in the year-ago quarter. Our estimate for Onboard and other revenues was pegged at $2.79 billion. Gross margin totaled $3.05 billion, almost flat compared with prior-year quarter levels. Gross margin yields declined 1.3% year over year, primarily due to higher fuel prices. Net yields reached an all-time high and increased 2.4% year over year in constant currency. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $2.99 billion, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Our estimate for the metric was $2.88 billion. Cruise and tour operating expenses totaled $4.63 billion, up 5.5% from $4.39 billion in the year-ago quarter. Fuel expense increased to $615 million from $451 million. Adjusted cruise costs excluding fuel per available lower berth day increased 1.8% in constant currency, one percentage point better than the June guidance. Passenger cruise days totaled 27.9 million compared with 27.5 million in the prior-year quarter. Available lower berth days increased to 24.9 million from 24.6 million. Occupancy was 111.8% compared with 111.7% in the year-ago quarter. Carnival carried 3.9 million passengers, up from 3.8 million a year earlier. Fuel consumption per thousand available lower berth days improved 3.8% year over year to 26.9 metric tons from 28 metric tons. Fuel cost per metric ton consumed, excluding emission allowances, increased to $826 from $607. The company delivered another strong booking performance, with volumes meaningfully ahead of the prior year and far outpacing capacity growth. For full-year fiscal 2027, both booked occupancy and pricing are at record levels. Customer deposits reached a fiscal third-quarter record of $7.64 billion, surpassing the prior-year record by approximately $0.5 billion. Carnival also stated that 2028 bookings started at higher occupancy and pricing levels than the prior year. As of Aug. 31, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $1.22 billion compared with $1.93 billion as of Nov. 30, 2025. Total debt, including current and long-term debt, declined to $23.91 billion from $26.64 billion over the same period. Cash from operations totaled $1.41 billion in the quarter compared with $1.38 billion in the prior-year quarter. Capital expenditures amounted to $698 million compared with $648 million a year ago. Carnival completed approximately $1.2 billion of share repurchases year to date. The company distributed $204 million in dividends during the third quarter, bringing year-to-date dividend payments to $618 million. For fourth-quarter fiscal 2026, the company expects adjusted EBITDA of approximately $1.30 billion. Adjusted net income is projected at nearly $274 million, while adjusted EPS is expected to be approximately 20 cents. The company expects fiscal 2026 net yields to increase approximately 2.3% year over year in constant currency, 0.5 percentage points better than the June guidance. Adjusted cruise costs excluding fuel per available lower berth day are expected to increase approximately 2.2% in constant currency. For the fiscal fourth quarter, net yields are projected to increase approximately 1.7% in constant currency. For fiscal 2026, CCL expects adjusted EBITDA of approximately $7.14 billion. Adjusted net income is projected to be nearly $3.08 billion, while adjusted EPS is anticipated to be approximately $2.24. Currently, Carnival has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer-Discretionary sector are Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH, The Marcus Corporation MCS and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC. Life Time Group presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 stocks here. Life Time Group delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.50%, on average. The stock has jumped 48.9% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LTH's 2026 sales and EPS implies growth of 12.4% and 22.9%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Marcus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings miss of 34.2%, on average. The stock has surged 85% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Marcus' 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 8.3% and 652.9%, respectively, from the year-ago period's levels. AMC Entertainment presently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 321.7%, on average. The stock has rallied 110.9% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC Entertainment's 2026 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 14.6% and 77.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Carnival Corporation (CCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marcus Corporation (The) (MCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

TORONTO, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Ionic Corp. (TSXV: LTH; OTCQX: LTHCF; FSE: H3N) (“Lithium Ionic” or the “Company”) reports the voting results from its Annual General Meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") held on August 18, 2026. Shareholders holding 103,969,271 shares or 52.7% of the outstanding shares of the Company were represented at the Meeting. Shareholders voted in favour of all resolutions put before the meeting, including: Fixing the number of directors to be elected at the Meeting at six; Re-appointing Deloitte LLP as auditor and authorizing the directors to fix the auditor’s remuneration; Ratifying and approving the Company’s stock option plan; Approving the Company’s amended restricted share unit and deferred share unit plan; and Ratifying and approving the Company’s amended and restated advance notice policy. Shareholders also approved the election of all six director nominees, including new independent directors John Turner and Ernie Ortiz Ortega. Their appointments strengthen Lithium Ionic’s governance, legal, mining transaction and lithium capital markets expertise as the Company advances its 100%-owned Bandeira Lithium Project toward construction readiness and production. Election of Directors The following individuals were elected as directors for the ensuing year: The appointments of Mr. Turner and Mr. Ortiz Ortega add complementary expertise in mining transactions, corporate governance, lithium markets and capital formation at a pivotal stage in Lithium Ionic’s development. A report of voting results for the Meeting will be filed under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. John Turner Mr. Turner is a highly respected Canadian mining lawyer with nearly four decades of experience in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and corporate governance across the global resources sector. A Partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (“Fasken”), Mr. Turner is Co-Leader of the firm’s Global Mining Group and has acted in prominent corporate finance and M&A transactions involving companies active globally. He also brings direct board-level experience in lithium sector consolidation, having served as a non-executive director of Galaxy Resources Limited through its 2021 merger of equals with Orocobre Limited to form Allkem Limited, as a director of Allkem through its US$10.6 billion merger with Livent Corporation to create Arcadium Lithium plc, completed in January 2024, and as a director of Arcadium Lithium, where he chaired the Compensation Committee, through its approximately US$6.7 billion acquisition by Rio Tinto, completed in March 2025. He has also served as Chair of TSX-listed GoGold Resources Inc. since 2019 and as Chair of New Haven Learning Centre, a not-for-profit supporting individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Mr. Turner holds an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge and an LL.B. and a BSc (Hons) from Queen’s University and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. Ernie Ortiz Ortega Mr. Ortiz Ortega is an executive in the critical minerals sector, most recently serving as Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Lithium Royalty Corp. (“LRC”). After co-founding LRC in 2018, he led the origination, structuring, and execution of a global portfolio of 38 lithium royalties, including royalties on Zijin Mining’s Tres Quebradas, Sigma Lithium, Elevra’s Moblan, and Ganfeng Lithium’s Mariana and Goulamina projects. Mr. Ortiz Ortega steered LRC through its C$150 million initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in March 2023, the largest initial public offering completed in Canada that year, and subsequently through its acquisition by Altius Minerals Corporation in March 2026 in a transaction valued at approximately C$573 million. He currently serves as Vice President, Corporate Development and Head of Lithium at Altius Minerals Corporation, is a founding member of the London Metal Exchange Lithium and Cobalt Advisory Committee, and serves on the board of directors of Sinova Global Inc. Earlier in his career, he held lithium-focused research roles at Tide Point Capital Management and Credit Suisse. Mr. Ortiz Ortega is a CFA charterholder and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago. Updated Brand Reflects Lithium Ionic’s Next Phase of Growth In conjunction with the Meeting, the Company also unveiled a refreshed corporate visual identity designed to reflect Lithium Ionic’s evolution as it advances its flagship Bandeira Lithium Project toward construction readiness and production. The updated brand reflects a collaborative effort between the Company’s Toronto head office and its operations in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and underscores Lithium Ionic’s continued focus on disciplined project development, responsible growth and becoming a near-term Brazilian lithium producer. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Lithium Ionic Corp. Blake HylandsChief Executive Officer, Director+1 [email protected] About Lithium Ionic Corp. Lithium Ionic is a Canadian lithium development company focused on responsibly advancing its 100%-owned Bandeira Lithium Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil, a region coined the “Lithium Valley” that is emerging as a premier hard-rock lithium district. The Company is executing on a focused development strategy centered on engineering de-risking, permitting advancement, commercial planning, and construction readiness, with the goal of becoming a near-term producer of high-quality spodumene concentrate for global battery supply chains. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not historical in nature contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “likely”, “should”, “would”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “potential”, “proposed”, “estimate”, “believe” or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” happen, or by discussions of strategy. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations are risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this news release and is based on assumptions management believed to be reasonable, including management’s perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to management, there is no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release. Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company’s current MD&A and the Company’s other public filings, all of which have been filed under the Company’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release or has in any way approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations - Connor Wienberg Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Bahram Akradi Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - Erik Weaver Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Life Time Group Holdings Inc. Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Connor Wienberg, Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Connor, please go ahead. Connor Wienberg: Good morning. Thank you for joining us for the Second Quarter 2026 Life Time Group Holdings Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Bahram Akradi, Founder, Chairman and CEO; and Erik Weaver, Executive Vice President and CFO. During the call, we will make forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements made today. There's a comprehensive discussion of risk factors in the company's SEC filings, which you are encouraged to review. The company will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted diluted EPS, net debt to adjusted EBITDA or what we refer to as net debt leverage ratio and free cash flow. This information, along with the reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included when applicable, in the company's earnings release issued this morning, our 8-K filed with the SEC and on the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Erik. Erik Weaver: Thank you, Connor, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for our Q2 business and financial update. Please note this morning, we posted an earnings supplement on our Investor Relations website, which includes additional detail on our membership mix and comparable center revenue. Starting with our second quarter revenue. Total revenue increased 13.7% to $866 million, driven by continued strength in performance across our clubs, including higher dues revenue and strong utilization of our in-center businesses. Comparable center revenue grew 9.1%. This was above our expectations, driven by an outperformance in our membership acquisition and in-center business performance. As outlined in our earnings supplement, there are 4 components of our comparable center revenue growth. Improved membership mix contributed 3.1% growth. Price contributed 2.9% growth. In-center businesses contributed 2.9% growth, largely driven by double-digit year-over-year growth in dynamic personal training and Life Spa. And volume contributed 0.2% to comparable center growth. As a result of our Q2 performance, we have raised our full year comparable center revenue guidance to 7.9% to 8.3%, up from 6.9% to 7.5%. Average monthly dues were $245, up approximately 12.3% year-over-year, and average revenue per center membership was $993, up 11.8% year-over-year. Growth in average dues was driven primarily by positive membership mix trends and execution of our pricing strategy. We ended the quarter with approximately 860,000 center memberships, which reflects 1.2% year-over-year growth. As we've discussed on past calls, we have been managing our membership mix. Part of our strategy has been to limit certain qualified memberships, specifically those administered by third-party medical insurance providers. We refer to these as qualified medical memberships. This strategy continued in the second quarter. Qualified medical memberships declined by approximately 20,600, down 18.9% year-over-year. All other memberships grew by approximately 30,900, up 4.2% year-over-year. Our strategy is working as reflected in our 13.3% growth in total dues revenue year-over-year. We expect total center membership growth of 1% to 1.5% in the third quarter and 2% to 3% in the fourth quarter. Excluding qualified medical memberships, we expect center membership growth of 4% to 5% in both the third and fourth quarters. Moving on to net income. For the quarter, net income was $101.4 million, an increase of 40.6% year-over-year. Second quarter net income included approximately $8.5 million of net tax-affected items excluded from adjusted net income, primarily consisting of share-based compensation. Net income in the prior year included tax-affected net cash proceeds of $9.3 million received from employee retention credits under the CARES Act, partially offset by a tax-affected net loss of $9 million on a sale-leaseback transaction. Adjusted net income, which excludes the tax-affected impact of these items, was $109.8 million, up 30.6% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $246.5 million, an increase of 16.8% over the prior year quarter, and our adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 80 basis points to 28.5%. As noted in our earnings release, we increased our full year 2026 revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA guidance. We also increased the midpoint of our full year adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 28.2%. Our updated guidance includes the impact of 7 clubs scheduled to open in the fourth quarter and the associated preopening expenses and early operating ramp impact on margin. Net cash provided by operating activities increased to $209.6 million, approximately 7.1% higher compared to the prior year quarter. Total capital expenditures were $263.3 million, up 18.6% from the prior year, reflecting construction activity in support of our new club openings for 2026 as well as the construction on clubs planned for 2027. As of today, we have opened 7 of the 14 clubs scheduled to open this year. The remaining 7 clubs are expected to open in the fourth quarter. We still expect 12 to 14 new clubs in 2027. 10 of these clubs are already under construction. In April, we closed on sale-leaseback transactions that generated approximately $200 million of sale-leaseback proceeds, and we expect to complete approximately $400 million for the full year, supporting our ongoing focus on generating annual positive free cash flow. With that, I will now pass the call to Bahram. Bahram Akradi: Thank you, Erik. Good morning, everyone, and thank you to our teams across the company for another outstanding quarter. Much like last quarter, we continue to see strong performance across all aspects of our business. Demand has been strong from our existing members as well as our new members. At the core of our performance is our intense focus on delivering exceptional experiences for our members. We plan to continue this strategy by delivering new desirable programs and services with the highest level of attention and care. For example, we have accelerated the rollout of CTR and Hybrid XT, our 2 newest group training formats. CTR is our large group Pilates reformer class. This class blends performance-based training with the precision and the control of reformer movement. Hybrid XT combines conditioning and strength training for real-world and competition-ready performance and is paired with our LT Games hybrid athlete competition. We are seeing incredible demand from our members for these classes. Our balance sheet and cash flow also remain exceptionally strong with the sale leasebacks completed this quarter and an additional $200 million of proceeds expected by end of the year, we expect to deliver positive free cash flow while achieving all of our revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth targets. We are currently on track to open 14 new clubs in 2026, the high end of our initial range, and we continue to see an incredibly strong pipeline of opportunities ahead. Overall, we feel very good about where we are and the trajectory of our business. We look forward to your questions. Operator: Our first question is coming from Arpine Kocharyan from UBS. Arpine Kocharyan: So really solid set of results this morning. And it's not every day you look at results and you say, actually, I have very few questions. But I do have 2. First, your guidance upside for the year is flowing through at a nice 55%. So you raised revenue by about $28 million, and that's raising EBITDA by $15 million. And we're now looking at 14 club openings this year from 12 to 14 before. I know it's difficult to talk about 2027 given everything that's going on in the world. But as we think about the ramp-up of these large-scale clubs as we get into next year, anything you would like to share on revenue per member dynamics to kind of help us better understand the opportunity as it relates to actual ramp and also flow-through for next year? Then I have a quick follow-up. Bahram Akradi: You're asking -- this is Bahram. You're asking a great question. The impact of this certainty of the 14 clubs is actually more on the next year than this year because they're opening so late into 2026 that they really don't have material impact on our numbers for this year. But we have a pretty robust opening scheduled for next year as well. And we have tremendous amount of real estate deals in the pipeline that I am more excited than I've ever been. So we anticipate really, really good growth across the -- in the foreseeable future, we don't see any slowdown in the reason for anything to slow down. However, we don't usually share results or guidance for the next year. But things are -- we have nothing to look at and think that there is anything going the wrong way. Everything is going positively right now. Arpine Kocharyan: Great. That's helpful. In-center business contribution to same-store growth came close to about 3% this quarter, which was an acceleration from something like 2% earlier this year. And I know you're doing more in CTR and Hybrid training classes and maybe on Spa and F&B. With larger club footprint ramping next year, do you see this in-center business contribution to same-store growth sustaining at that 3% level as we go into next year? Erik Weaver: Yes. So again, without -- this is Erik, giving numbers into next year, I think when we think about sustainability of that number, you're absolutely right. That number increased from 2.3% to 2.9%. And it really comes down to us continuing to deliver on the experience, right? And so we've seen excellent engagement in our in-centers. We've seen it across DPT and Spa. And so to the extent that we continue to deliver on that experience, we expect the financial performance will follow. Bahram Akradi: Yes. We have to continue to look for places in our business where we have opportunity to do better than we are doing. And so this year, we are seeing great growth on the revenue from PT from SPA. We are having great process improvement in our F&B. So we're getting the margin improvement in F&B first, reorganizing certain things, menus, processes. And then we then focus on developing revenue growth strategy in F&B for 2027. Meanwhile, we're always working and developing different programs, different products that can add to what our consumer can purchase from us. So we expect similar results going into the next year very comfortably. Operator: Our next question is coming from John Heinbockel from Guggenheim Partners. John Heinbockel: Bahram, I wanted to follow-up on that. Can you talk about the penetration from your members in things like DPT and Spas, right? Because I think the penetration is still pretty low, right? DPT, I think, right, is still in the single digits. And you can talk about awareness, right? So the penetration and then also the awareness, right? Because I think you have not wanted to hard sell members on these services, you wanted to happen organically. So is that awareness now picking up meaningfully? Bahram Akradi: Yes. I don't believe that you can sit there and say that penetration of the personal training is low. It's been pretty consistent for years and years and years. Our clubs are realistically 50% training exercise, 50% all other things. So the social aspects of the business, which we are stepping on sort of aggressively right now, the family, the kids, the sports. So the personal training really applies to 50%, 60% of our customers. And that 50%, 60% -- so the number is like you say, okay, we have a 7% penetration at a particular month. We have a 10%, 11%, 12% penetration, when you look at the larger window throughout in a yearly basis. That number is actually double the number of people, who are working out in our clubs for -- come to our clubs for exercise, for lifting, for getting training. So I don't think the number is like drastically low. The team does a phenomenal job. We have branded DPT masterfully over the last 4 or 5 years. We are getting productivity that this company has never seen from the personal trainer. We have more successful trainers than we've ever had. The reputation of the business is that this is the best place for them to come and make the most money and have been in the most professional environment. So we have significant amounts of qualified applicants. So I trust that our team will continue pathways. We also have to deliver additional programming. So part of the success of last year was dynamic stretch still growing, Dynamic nutrition still growing. So these things will lend to one another. We have other things we're working on right now, which I don't want to discuss that would also bring in another set of customers and then they can expand their work. It's a constant work. Results are really, really good. And I expect the team to continue to grow that percentage. Erik Weaver: And if I could just add one thing to that, John. Keep in mind, penetration is just one part, one metric of the story. Penetration is up year-over-year in DPT, but it's also about trainer efficiency, revenue per trainer and how much new business they're bringing in. And all of those metrics are up year-over-year. So you have to look at it holistically. John Heinbockel: Okay. And then my follow-up, just maybe as you now get to 14 openings a year, maybe talk about gating factors on expansion, right? Because I think lots of landlords, right, [ mall ] and otherwise want you in their locations. So the real estate opportunities are there. Maybe more from a people standpoint, where do you think you're not comfortable going beyond just in terms of executing the experience? Bahram Akradi: John, you're trying to get information out of me. You're masterful at it. So I'm going to try to masterfully respond back to you. We have tremendous amount of opportunity more than -- like I said earlier, more than I have ever seen before. There is more developers, more large projects, more office buildings that they're reaching to us and they want to have the Life Time brand, not just the fitness center, the Life Time Athletic Country Club, coupled with Life Time Living or their development. So we have tremendous amount of opportunities in front of us. PJ is working his butt off his entire team. I'm working as hard as I can with them. We are looking to expand our growth over the next several years. I'm not going to tell you how other than 14 clubs a year for now is the limit. But we are looking for ways to have bigger development rollout because the opportunity coming our way is significantly bigger than it has been in the past. Operator: Our next question is coming from Randy Konik from Jefferies. Randal Konik: I guess a question for Erik. You have, I think, a lot of the openings weighting to the fourth quarter. There's got to be some kind of opening -- the preopening kind of expenses impacting kind of weighing on the numbers, even though the numbers are much better than expected. So maybe kind of give us some perspective there on how much of an impact that's been. And then when you think about next year, just not giving us a number of openings, what have you, would you expect a change in cadence on when you open clubs next year versus this year? Just curious just because it moves the numbers around a little bit. Erik Weaver: Yes. I mean there certainly is an impact on margin as you think about those clubs opening later in the year. You've got 7 of them that are going to open up in Q4. So whether it's 30, 40 -- there's a little bit of an impact there as we know. But we've said for next year, we're targeting 12 to 14 as well. The timing of those obviously are not all announced yet. You may have a little bit of that in the back half of the year. But again, as you've seen from our increase in our overall margin, even this year, obviously, we've increased that. And so we've been able to absorb that. But it does have a small impact as we open those in the back half of the year. Randal Konik: Got it. And then I guess a follow-up back to you would be, last quarter, I think the big unlock was the idea of reaching this inflection point in cash flow such that you could self-fund growth with optionality around sale leasebacks if wanting to. Just when you think about that target year, what would change to kind of -- because these numbers keep coming in better than expected. So I'm assuming the ramps are coming and also starting to ramp a little bit better than expected as well. Anything that would kind of change to kind of get that number or that year kind of pulled forward a little bit? And just remind us how you're thinking about utilizing that optionality in not next year or beyond, but like the next 3 to 5 years from now as you kind of unlock all that cash flow to either do more units or buy back more stock? Or just kind of give us some, again, parameters on how you're thinking long term on the business? Bahram Akradi: I'll take this. This is Bahram. We are going to stay disciplined to deliver what we say we do. We've committed to doing $400 million of sale leaseback this year. So we're going to first and foremost deliver that. As we get into strategies for next year, you're absolutely correct. Our cash flow is increasing each year nicely. We have more optionality than we have ever had. That's the way I have always wanted to lead to get the company financially in a position where we have a significant number of options and flexibility on managing through great times, managing through bad times. And so that requires having super, super strong fundamentals on your balance sheet. And we are there now. We have all kinds of options in front of us. And we're going to be more clearly focused on our WACC, our weighted average cost of capital and our ROIC and with a clear focus on taking the capital that is afforded to us by shareholders and debt structures and make sure we provide great return to our investors by putting those in the right places. We are examining all different types of options for the future years. And I think you are correct to have that question, but I would probably expand on the strategy for that towards end of the year or early next year, if we choose to change anything because it definitely delivers a better result for our shareholders. But right now, we're staying on course and just evaluating the options. Operator: Our next question is coming from Molly Baum from Morgan Stanley. Molly Baum: Maybe shifting gears a little bit to talk about MIORA. Can you give an update on how you're thinking about the white space opportunity? And can you maybe frame the revenue or the EBITDA contribution that you're seeing from the mature locations you have open right now? Bahram Akradi: Yes. Great question, not a great answer for you right now. So it is in incubation, we have 6 or 7 locations that we are working. I have been adamant with the team that we are not going to add additional locations until we deliver what I would consider to be a perfect customer journey experience. And we do have some challenges with the technology and some of the processes around that. So we are kind of working around those challenges. Our full intention is to roll out MIORA extremely robustly. But what I believe we need to do is we need to perfect the model and then roll out extremely fast and aggressively once we have a model that doesn't -- our clubs when we open, they open right now with a wait list, they open contribution margin positive in the second month, the third month. I mean, everything is working because we have mastered the execution of a club opening. We have some work to do with MIORA. However, I am the most convinced that it will be absolutely a massive growth opportunity. We can grow really, really fast as soon as we fine-tune these final little touch points that we have to get corrected. So numbers right now on MIORA, the 6 or 7 locations are just not material. It's really working on the customer journey. Molly Baum: Got it. That makes a lot of sense. And one other question I had wanted to ask. I think that you -- as we think about these qualified medical memberships, I think you've spoken in the past that you have some contract renewals coming up at the end of 2026. So how are you evaluating what might happen with these memberships, which relationships to renew, which you might be able to convert into a standard membership? If you can give some more color there, that would be great. Bahram Akradi: Yes. We're working on it. We have great partners. We have massive, massive companies, Fortune 50 companies in the country that we have great relationships with. There is a significant benefit to a certain portion of the population to absolutely love this program. We are working on the details of not doing it or not doing it. Our partners want to continue on. We want to be good partners and do some, but we have to put in all the flexibilities in it so we can absolutely control the experiences in the clubs so that the number of certain type of memberships doesn't overtake the others. Some clubs don't -- cannot afford to have any programming around that. So we are basically rolling out a strategy with this. The discussions are going extremely well. We don't expect anything negative to happen at this point other than we will gradually have a lower percentage of our membership being qualified membership. It will continually go down as a percentage of our total membership and become less and less significant to the point it wouldn't be really worth our time to discuss with you guys or you guys with us. But we do love the population in our clubs in certain clubs, I think it's just a really nice program to provide when we have the capacity and they don't interfere with the bigger opportunity in the club. Erik Weaver: Yes. And I think that's key. If you remember, these memberships have restricted hours. So in some clubs, it's a great way to fill some of that off-peak time. Bahram Akradi: And in some locations, we just simply don't have really the ability to provide them. I mean none of the new clubs are opening with them. So you can just feel and some of the open clubs, we don't have any more direct medical program available unless they are choosing to go to a full upgrade with it. So we will manage this. It just won't be a significant piece of what's going to drive the business up or down. Operator: Next question is coming from Anthony Bonadio from Wells Fargo. Anthony Bonadio: I just wanted to start on the comp, the 9% comp center revenue. Can you just talk a little bit more about the cadence of that growth as you move through the quarter? And then back half guidance implies some deceleration, which I know isn't new, but that's clearly gone the other way this quarter. So can you just talk about assumptions there and how you're thinking around that has evolved? Erik Weaver: Yes, absolutely. I can take that. So absolutely right. We did see, as I talked about, an acceleration this quarter. Again, that goes back to all the things that we're doing in DPT and Spa, et cetera. You also mentioned that it is normal for a -- as seasonality kicks in some slight deceleration. The big thing to keep in mind is a lot of this is in-center business growth, right? And so as we're projecting the year, if you look at the midpoint of our updated guidance, that's still 8.1%. It's above kind of what we've been communicating in terms of our long-term algo. So it's nothing more than just being prudent as we're thinking about all the summer activity and as we're projecting rest of the year. Anthony Bonadio: Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just on the events. You announced the expansion of the LT Games. Also the acquisition of the Phoenix 10-K in the quarter. I guess just given the growing popularity of some of these events and competitions, as I look at the other offers out there gaining traction, can you just talk a little bit more about the opportunity set and what growth prospects could look like? And just any thoughts on like how margins, returns compare to the rest of your business? Bahram Akradi: Great question. So LT Games and Hybrid XT are sort of a ying and a yang. Hybrid XT is today, the sort of the current big driver of people wanting to come to that -- do that type of a hybrid training. So the responsible thing to do, as we have always mentioned, these clubs were designed from day 1 to have the flexibility of adaptation. And so we can roll out the programs that the customers are seeking at that moment in time. And LT Games is basically a very, very, very defined experience, very accurately measurable. It's -- I have a big vision for what LT Games can do for the company on its own and to sort of bringing the type of customer, who wants to do that athletic training into Life Time to do hybrid XP. It's sort of a thing that goes together. Ultimately, LT Games has the potential of being in a spectator competition. It's not tomorrow, it's not next year, it's going to take years for it to achieve to that, but that's the vision. And so those are the way we're going to drive those. CTR is rolling out as fast as we can roll it out. And every class we put on ends up being waitlisted. So we are rolling as fast as we can. We're spending a little more money. We're investing more growth capital into these initiatives in our clubs because they are working extremely well. So that's where we're deploying some additional capital to capture these growth opportunities. So hopefully, that answers your question. Operator: Our next question is coming from Ben Chaiken from Mizuho Securities. Benjamin Chaiken: This is Weili Chen on for Ben. Weili Chen: We're wondering if you could go back to kind of clarifying your churn expectations for the qualified medical membership in 2027 and as well as the opportunities to convert and maybe like share some data points on the churn year-to-date and then any of the conversion into the standard membership? Bahram Akradi: We don't look at it in that fashion. We're looking at sort of our calculation of how our expectation is on total -- the average dues per membership growth and the regular and the membership count growth and the blend of the -- some of these the way you have to think about it is, for sure, the percentage of medical qualified is going to go down. As that percentage goes down, the average dues on membership goes up. There's just sort of a direct correlation with it. It's virtually not significant enough. I'm telling you like this. The numbers that we are giving you and we're guiding -- and this thing is going to be less than 2% of our dues revenue in the future years. Erik Weaver: Yes. I mean by the end of the year, it's 3%. But it's a little too early to talk about next year. But it will drop down. Bahram Akradi: It will go from the 3% to below that. Erik Weaver: Here's what I would tell you. The large decreases we're seeing this year is we've talked about that deemphasis of that in the prior year. So we're lapping a couple of quarters now that we're lapping that dynamic. So that's why we're giving this guidance here last quarter, this quarter and then probably in Q4. So again, we're kind of lapping those 4 quarters. As we get into '27, with some of the things Bahram was talking about, we'll provide obviously more information on that. But again, it's going to be less than 3% of our total. Bahram Akradi: Total dues revenue. If we ever change anything, I mean the dues will go up. But again, it's not going to be significant. So it just -- so I think we really need to focus you guys on the -- where the big drivers will be on the business. Operator: Our next question is coming from Eric Lauriers from Craig-Hallum. Eric Des Lauriers: Congrats again on another impressive quarter. As you look at the new club opportunities in '27 and beyond, obviously, there's lots of white space kind of across the board. But how should we be thinking about sort of larger versus smaller footprint, greenfield versus retrofit and urban versus suburban? Can you just kind of give us a sense of either the changing opportunities there or your evolving priorities? Bahram Akradi: Yes. I can't tell you -- I would never want to tell you guys, we're going to do 7 of these and 7 of those or 8 of these and 6 of those. I think the way to think about it is that these -- the pipeline is driven by both all the sites that we go find to buy, purchase a piece of land. And right now, we're in a position where we can actually pull the trigger, buy some parcels of land a bit earlier to create a land bank so we can have those ground-up opportunities laid out a little more clearly. But then the other developments, they are just -- the frothy of it right now is such that it's quite a bit. So I can't give you a direction to say it's going to be more of these over the time or more of those, but definitely more urban locations coming as a percentage of our whole portfolio. With New York, Miami, there's kind of a big markets, growth markets with sort of a big pipeline of developments. But the question is what year they land in. Those are hard to give you guys because the larger the building, the larger the project, the larger the apartment building, the longer is the time for them to be developed and constructed and built and delivered. So we are a very, very good spot to delivering the total amount of square footage that we want to grow per year. And as we have gone through this, it really doesn't matter if it's one type or the other because the returns after the sale leaseback or from the rentals are always the same. They're in a 30-plus range IRR range, which is fantastic. Eric Des Lauriers: That's very helpful. I think we got some kind of long-term direction in there. That's very helpful. So Bahram, you've mentioned a number of times sort of how robust the demand is for new clubs right now. Historically, I mean, at least some of your clubs have been offered attractive rent rates as developers look to kind of bring you in as an anchor tenant. Is this dynamic still at play? And if so, do you think that sort of broadly as you look out a number of years that rent rates will generally improve? Or is -- are these kind of opportunities more limited to one-offs that we shouldn't necessarily extrapolate a broad trend as we look out a couple of years? Bahram Akradi: We're always positioning our clubs at a significantly attractive rent per square foot, either through the way we build and we do the sale leaseback, the rent per square foot is significantly below what it would be naturally in the market or when we go into development, we actually put in more dollars as a tenant -- as a leasehold improvement than we would absolutely have to because we protect that lower rent for years to come. So we will continue to negotiate great rates. Real estate goes through frenzies. There's times where there's abundance of certain type of real estate in a market and the landlords are more eager to negotiate and do deals. Sometimes they are absolutely desperate because nothing else can be the catalyst for the filling up the space and our product does or brand does. So -- but across the board, I expect our rent percentages stay consistent to what Erik has kind of mapped out to you guys around that 12%... Operator: Our next question today is coming from Chris Woronka from Deutsche Bank. Chris Woronka: So Brian, maybe we could spend a minute talking about kind of the broader supplement space and there's been some headlines around peptides potentially getting more broadly approved by the FDA and other things. So can you maybe give us a little bit of a perspective on where you guys are on that and if you think the opportunities are perhaps increasing to monetize that? Bahram Akradi: Yes. We're all over it. We're studying it, working on it, testing it every single day. I was on the phone last night for 2 hours working on half a dozen different peptides and where they're at, what they do and who makes them and what are the pros and cons with them. And -- it's definitely -- most definitely a space that is going to continue to grow. It's going to grow substantially. We're going to play a big role in it within our facilities through MIORA and different forms to rolling that out. We have to be cautious today because it's sort of a wild, wild west with the pharmacies, the compound pharmacies who make these. And so the science is in many cases, well documented. In some places, it's a little more sort of a believe me kind of a thing. I don't know that there is as much human research, widespread human case studies with them, but the science is sound. So we are on the cutting edge of studying it. I just caution everyone that it is very, very new, and you have to be very, very thoughtful on how you roll this out. And we are. We are -- we have Jim LaValle, who is our Chief Science Officer and one of the biggest speakers in this category across the country. We're following the science and administering some of these things right now in our current 7 locations, MIORA locations. So -- but it is going to be a massive, massive growth space because the science is actually pretty sound on some of the peptides are like solid in terms of the fact that they would work. Chris Woronka: Okay. Very helpful. And just as a follow-up, I know you got a lot of balls in the air, but on app monetization, is there anything kind of new to report there in terms of whether it's some kind of product or service or maybe an advertising revenue stream? Is there anything you're working on in the near term on that? Bahram Akradi: It's definitely not where our head is at. Our head is the technology at Life Time needs to be fully directed on delivering consistent to our clubs, an extraordinary experiences. And we have a long ways to go to make sure we can keep up with the evolution in technology and the AI. And so the customer can achieve what they want to achieve in our clubs, buy what they want to buy is to get the service they want as fast and as easy as they can. So this is all on me. I launched the Life Time digital platform a couple of years back. I wanted to see that opportunity. We spent some time. We studied. I talked to some experts. And then my takeaway based on those studies is that the digital subscriptions have such a significant attrition rate that they virtually don't make sense. Now we didn't lose any money because we didn't invest money in the customer acquisition, but we also couldn't see the customer coming back on a regular basis. So instead of diluting our technology team's focus on trying to do that and divide it and then try to work on the customer, we decided early this year, 7, 8, 9 months ago to put all of the focus on delivering the customer. The number of people on the digital platform are still growing naturally, but those customers are able to sign up anybody for free, can sign up on Life Time app and get all those features. We're just not doing 2 different versions. Operator: Our next question today is coming from Owen Rickert from Northland Capital Markets. Owen Rickert: On CTR and Hybrid XT, what's the current penetration across the center base as of right now? And how much more room is there to add them to additional clubs? Bahram Akradi: Well, they're both different stages. Hybrid XT is extremely new. It's just rolling out. It's in really -- I mean, it's being executed to some level, but not to the way that we actually want to call it branded programming. Maybe about under 20. And I think the -- our goal is to get to about 60 locations on CTR by the end of the year. We're moving as fast as we can. And ultimately, we will have CTR in just about every club. So I would say that 80% of the clubs, 90% of clubs will have the space to deliver CTR at some point. So it's just how fast we can map that out. And we've allocated more of our growth capital to the CTR rollout this year, but we're rolling them out. But they're not -- they're still, I would say, we're not halfway there. Erik Weaver: And Brian, you mentioned earlier, there's a nice waitlist for CTR, which is absolutely true. CTR also has the highest fill rate across our programming. So it's a very, very popular program. Owen Rickert: Awesome. Glad to hear, guys. And then secondly for me, you had some repurchase activity during the quarter at a pretty solid price relative to where we are today. I guess given the stock has moved since then, how are you thinking about the pace and prioritization of the remaining capacity. Bahram Akradi: That's a great question. I'm not going to give you any answers. Owen Rickert: Fair enough. I thought I'd get... Operator: Next question is coming from Logan Reich from RBC Capital Markets. Logan Reich: Congrats on the really solid results. My question was on the in-center acceleration. It's been decelerating a few quarters now and some really impressive numbers in Q2. I guess like what is the key driver of that acceleration? I know you called out dynamic personal training as a driver, but anything else to call out maybe on the cafe. And then just within the sort of membership in-center spending, like is that coming from newer members or existing members? Or is that coming from higher frequency or higher penetration? Just any sort of color you guys can give on what's driving that acceleration quarter-over-quarter would be much appreciated. Erik Weaver: Yes. I mean it's really coming from both new and ramping. And when you ask about what's driving that in-center, again, it goes back to delivering on our brand and that experience. And so we talked about a couple of the big drivers being DPT and Spa, okay? So that strategy is all around engagement. It's all around experience. And so what we've really focused on is the casting in those businesses to meet the demand. And we're hiring the right number of trainers, the right trainers, the right technicians, et cetera. And so our expectation is that we have the right number, they're delivering on the experience, and that's driving the performance. Logan Reich: Got it. That's helpful. And then just a follow-up on CTR and Hybrid XT. Just confirming those are included in the membership. So that's not an additional in-center portion of the business. And then like, I guess, just trying to think about -- sorry, go ahead. Bahram Akradi: That's correct. Those are both part of the programs designed to bring in members, keep them engaged and continue to build the dues revenue for the business. Logan Reich: Got it. So is that like a pricing opportunity for you guys to -- because I know you use a lot of different metrics and data in your pricing decisions. Like is the right way to think about it like that is just an additional component of the pricing calculation and you'll view that as like a pricing opportunity? Or is that maybe even like a member growth opportunity as well? Just trying to think about how that's going to drive the model. Bahram Akradi: Look, I think the way we have transitioned the company over the last 5 years is the new clubs are coming in at a much higher rack rate right off the get-go. And they are designed for significantly fewer memberships, 3,000 to 4,000 membership units. And they -- at much higher dues with the most robust experiences and programming. Those models are working exceptionally well, all of them. And then the -- on the older clubs has been basically transitioning from the older price point to a newer price point and adding programming and sort of rolling that out in the market by market, location by location as it makes sense. So in some clubs, you add programming and it would be part of an upgrade signature buy. It just those are in the older clubs. And all new clubs, all these programs are built in as one bundled in. But when you look at that compared to somebody trying to buy those services a la carte, one program in some studio, the value proposition at Life Time becomes so incredible that's why the larger format clubs, new clubs put all these programs in it are hugely successful. Operator: Next question is coming from Andrew Chasanoff from Oppenheimer. Andrew Chasanoff: Congrats on the quarter. I just want to build on the in-center offering conversation. Beyond DPT, you've been discussing the momentum building in CTR with waitlist forming pretty quickly. Can you give us a sense of how you're thinking about the pathway from CTR into the broader Pilates business, which I know has historically been more of a private, semi-private higher ticket offering? And then just as we're starting to think about the scale of the other in-center offerings, Cafe, Spa, MIORA, as they start to scale as DPT and CTR have, how should we be thinking about the margin profiles? And if any of them are structurally higher or lower that we should be thinking about the mix as they scale? Bahram Akradi: That was one question. Let me help you with what I can help you. So you asked about CTR being a program that would feed into the regular Pilates. That's absolutely correct. The number of people who would never go sign up for Pilates directly because it's just kind of a different experience completely, but they would go to a CTR program is significantly higher to go to CTR than to do a private training. Now a certain percentage of those people will a certain percentage of those folks will at some point say, I like this enough. Now I'm intrigued and then there is a natural connection. So we do plan and think through how that transition can be helped or enhanced. That was one of your questions, right? Andrew Chasanoff: Yes, that's very helpful. Bahram Akradi: It should, and it is helping Pilates program in certain clubs when we're executing that strategy the way I mentioned. So now what are your other questions? Andrew Chasanoff: My follow-up is maybe kind of more around the margin aspect of in-centers and kind of as the other aspects of in-center beyond DPT and CTR begin to scale in a similar degree, you've talked about MIORA, the spa, cafes, how would you just be thinking about the mix dynamics just as the mix of the in-center offerings just widens? Bahram Akradi: Yes. Look, I think our targeted overall company EBITDA margin that we're giving you is the way I would try to do my job as mapping out what a club is going to deliver in total revenue and contribution margin, EBITDA margin. The fluctuation in the cafe and the spa margins have been de minimis in terms of overall numbers of the company. They haven't been significant because our focus for decades has been that spa and the cafe are what makes the experience become a complete athletic country club. You can get a massage, you can get your hair done, you can get your nails done, you can get a nice meal. There are significant opportunities in the revenue growth on both categories, and we are focused on fine-tuning those and make those be additional growth drivers in the upcoming years in our overall revenue growth and in-center growth. And with those, we are working the details and the processes right now, perfecting those so that not only we get the revenue, we also get the appropriate margin to come with it. Very, very good opportunity ahead to kind of seize some of what looks like a capturable opportunity to help growing the in-center business and in-center margins. Operator: We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further or closing comments. Connor Wienberg: Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We look forward to having you on the next quarter's call. Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today. Before you buy stock in Life Time Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Life Time Group wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Life Time (LTH) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Investors might want to bet on Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH), as earnings estimates for this company have been showing solid improvement lately. The stock has already gained solid short-term price momentum, and this trend might continue with its still improving earnings outlook. The rising trend in estimate revisions, which is a result of growing analyst optimism on the earnings prospects of this company, should get reflected in its stock price. After all, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements. Our stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- has this insight at its core. The five-grade Zacks Rank system, which ranges from a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record of outperformance, with Zacks #1 Ranked stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 2008. For Life Time Group Holdings, Inc., strong agreement among the covering analysts in revising earnings estimates upward has resulted in meaningful improvement in consensus estimates for the next quarter and full year. The chart below shows the evolution of forward 12-month Zacks Consensus EPS estimate: The company is expected to earn $0.45 per share for the current quarter, which represents a year-over-year change of +9.8%. Over the last 30 days, two estimates have moved higher for Life Time Group Holdings compared to no negative revisions. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased 7.08%. The company is expected to earn $1.75 per share for the full year, which represents a change of +21.5% from the prior-year number. There has been an encouraging trend in estimate revisions for the current year as well. Over the past month, three estimates have moved up for Life Time Group Holdings versus no negative revisions. This has pushed the consensus estimate 5.86% higher. The promising estimate revisions have helped Life Time Group Holdings earn a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The Zacks Rank is a tried-and-tested rating tool that helps investors effectively harness the power of earnings estimate revisions and make the right investment decision.You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Our research shows that stocks with Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) significantly outperform the S&P 500. While strong estimate revisions for Life Time Group Holdings have attracted decent investments and pushed the stock 9.2% higher over the past four weeks, further upside may still be left in the stock. So, you may consider adding it to your portfolio right away. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Mattel, Inc. MAT reported second-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate but net sales surpassing the same. Revenues improved, while the bottom line declined sharply from the prior-year quarter.The company posted adjusted earnings of 1 cent per share, down from 21 cents a year earlier. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 3 cents by 66.7%, as higher advertising, selling and administrative expenses and margin pressure weighed on profitability. Mattel, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Mattel, Inc. Quote Net sales of $1.13 billion increased 10% year over year and surpassed the consensus mark of $1.08 billion by 4.2%. Growth was led by North America, Vehicles and the Action Figures, Building Sets, Games and Other category. Vehicles gross billings rose 11% in constant currency. North America net sales increased 12% year over year. International net sales advanced 9% as reported and 5% in constant currency, supporting broad-based top-line growth during the quarter.Regional gross billings increased in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. North America gross billings rose 12% in constant currency to $613 million, while EMEA increased 7% to $363 million. Latin America was comparable at $165 million, and Asia Pacific advanced 4% to $126 million. Management believes U.S. retailer ordering patterns have now largely stabilized. Worldwide Vehicles gross billings increased 14% as reported and 11% in constant currency to $463 million, primarily driven by Hot Wheels. The company expects Hot Wheels to achieve its ninth consecutive record year, supported by demand from children and adult collectors.Action Figures, Building Sets, Games and Other gross billings surged 35% as reported and 33% in constant currency to $358 million. Growth was reflected in Games, including the contribution from Mattel's 163 digital titles, and Action Figures tied to theatrical releases. Mattel Brick Shop also performed well during the quarter. Dolls gross billings declined 5% as reported and 7% in constant currency to $318 million, primarily due to lower Barbie sales. Weakness in Barbie and Polly Pocket was partly offset by growth in K-Pop Demon Hunters and Disney Princess and Frozen products. Management expects Barbie to return to growth in 2027.Infant, Toddler and Preschool gross billings fell 11% as reported and 13% in constant currency to $128 million, mainly reflecting a decline in Fisher-Price. However, Little People delivered high-double-digit growth, aided by new partnerships. Adjusted gross margin declined 260 basis points year over year to 48.6%. The contraction reflected the gross incremental cost of tariffs, inflation, higher royalties and unfavorable foreign exchange. Contributions from Mattel163, tariff-mitigation efforts and cost savings provided partial offsets.Advertising expenses increased $45.2 million to $124.3 million, reflecting Mattel163, marketing and engagement activities and strategic investments. Adjusted selling and administrative expenses rose 11% to $383.6 million. Consequently, adjusted operating income declined 60% to $38.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA fell to $95.5 million from $170 million. For the first six months of 2026, cash flows used for operating activities were $202.1 million, compared with $275.3 million a year earlier. The improvement reflected more favorable working-capital usage, partly offset by lower net income excluding noncash items.Mattel ended the quarter with $523.9 million in cash and equivalents, $829.8 million in inventories and $2.33 billion in long-term debt. The company repurchased $100 million of shares during the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to $300 million. Management reaffirmed its 2026 outlook, projecting constant-currency net sales growth of 3% to 6%. Adjusted gross margin is expected to be approximately 50%, while adjusted operating income is forecast between $580 million and $630 million.Mattel continues to expect adjusted earnings of $1.27-$1.39 per share and an adjusted tax rate of approximately 24%. The company also reaffirmed its $400 million share-repurchase target for the year. MAT currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer-Discretionary sector are Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH, The Marcus Corporation MCS and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC.Life Time Group presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Life Time Group delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.5%, on average. The stock has surged 66.6% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LTH’s 2026 sales and EPS implies growth of 11.5% and 19.4%, respectively, from the year-ago levels.Marcus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings miss of 34.2%, on average. The stock has jumped 100.9% in the year-to-date period.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Marcus’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 8.3% and 605.9%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.AMC Entertainment presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 321.7%, on average. The stock has rallied 75.7% in the year-to-date period.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC Entertainment’s 2026 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 13.3% and 77.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Mattel, Inc. (MAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marcus Corporation (The) (MCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN reported second-quarter 2026 results, with earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top and bottom lines increased on a year-over-year basis.Management highlighted healthy demand across the business, including a monthly Adjusted Property EBITDAR record in Las Vegas during May and strong performance in Macau. Wynn Palace led the quarter’s growth, with revenues rising 21.1% and Adjusted Property EBITDAR increasing 28.2% year over year. In the second quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.24, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01 by 22.8%. In the prior-year quarter, Wynn Resorts reported adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share.Quarterly operating revenues of $1.86 billion surpassed the consensus mark of $1.84 billion by 0.9%. The top line increased 6.9% from $1.74 billion reported in the year-ago quarter. Wynn Resorts, Limited price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Wynn Resorts, Limited Quote In the second quarter, Wynn Palace’s operating revenues amounted to $653.4 million compared with $539.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Casino revenues increased 25.9% year over year to $564.4 million, while food and beverage revenues rose 4.4% to $31.8 million.Rooms and entertainment, retail and other revenues declined 6% each to $36.2 million and $21.1 million, respectively. Adjusted Property EBITDAR increased to $201.5 million from $157.2 million, with the margin improving to 30.8% from 29.1%.In the VIP segment, table games turnover declined 32% year over year to $2.77 billion. The VIP table games win rate was 2.97% compared with 2.86% in the prior-year quarter and remained below the property’s expected range of 3.1% to 3.4%.Mass-market table drop increased 3% to $1.9 billion, while table games win rose 36.9% to $563.3 million. The mass-market table games win percentage improved to 29.7% from 22.3%. RevPAR declined 5.7% to $216, while occupancy was 98.9%. In the second quarter, Wynn Macau generated operating revenues of $351.1 million compared with $343.8 million reported in the prior-year quarter. Casino revenues increased 2.5% to $300.7 million, while entertainment, retail and other revenues rose 8.7% to $12.7 million.Rooms and food and beverage revenues declined 3.8% and 1.5% to $20.9 million and $16.8 million, respectively. Adjusted Property EBITDAR declined 1% to $95.5 million from $96.5 million.VIP table games turnover fell 56.4% year over year to $428.1 million. The VIP win rate declined to 2.58% from 3.41% and remained below the expected range.Mass-market table drop rose 8.3% to $1.75 billion, and table games win increased 6.9% to $300.2 million. Slot machine handle advanced 18%, while slot machine win climbed 38.6%. RevPAR declined 3.3% to $208. In the second quarter, operating revenues from Las Vegas Operations totaled $643.2 million compared with $638.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Casino revenues increased 6.5% to $158.1 million, while room revenues edged up 0.1% to $208.1 million.Food and beverage revenues rose 0.4% to $195.7 million. Entertainment, retail and other revenues declined 6.9% to $81.2 million. Adjusted Property EBITDAR decreased 8.3% to $215.2 million, with the margin contracting to 33.5% from 36.8%.Table drop increased 4.8% year over year to $638.2 million, while table games win rose 14.8% to $152.7 million. The table games win percentage improved to 23.9% from 21.8%.RevPAR increased 2.5% to $501, while the average daily rate rose 4.9% to $575. Occupancy declined to 87.1% from 89.2% in the year-ago quarter. In the second quarter, Encore Boston Harbor’s operating revenues amounted to $209.3 million compared with $215.7 million in the prior-year quarter. Casino revenues fell 5.9% to $152.1 million.Rooms and food and beverage revenues increased 9.7% and 7.4% to $25.1 million and $20.1 million, respectively. Entertainment, retail and other revenues declined 3.9% to $12 million.Adjusted Property EBITDAR decreased 12.2% to $56.1 million from $63.9 million. The table games win percentage fell to 18.1% from 21.3%.RevPAR increased 9.6% to $412, while the average daily rate rose 9.9% to $445. Occupancy was 92.7% compared with 92.9% in the prior-year quarter. In the second quarter, Adjusted Property EBITDAR totaled $568.3 million compared with $552.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The consolidated margin declined to 30.6% from 31.8%.Operating income increased to $297.6 million from $264.6 million reported in second quarter 2025. Net income attributable to Wynn Resorts rose to $140.1 million from $66.2 million reported in the prior year quarter. As of June 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.57 billion, excluding $527.4 million of short-term investments held by Wynn Macau. Total current and long-term debt outstanding was $10.72 billion.The company repurchased 741,098 shares for $75 million during the quarter. Wynn Resorts also declared a cash dividend of 25 cents per share, payable Aug. 28, 2026. Wynn Al Marjan Island is expected to open in September 2027. Wynn Resorts currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer-Discretionary sector are Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH, The Marcus Corporation MCS and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC. Life Time Group presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here. Life Time Group delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.50%, on average. The stock has surged 68.3% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LTH’s 2026 sales and EPS implies growth of 11.5% and 19.4%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Marcus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings miss of 34.2%, on average. The stock has gained 100.7% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Marcus’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 8.3% and 605.9%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.AMC Entertainment presently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 321.7%, on average. The stock has rallied 71.8% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC Entertainment’s 2026 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 13.3% and 77.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marcus Corporation (The) (MCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Marriott International, Inc. MAR reported second-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missing the same. Adjusted earnings of $3.19 per share surpassed the consensus estimate of $3.06 by 4.2% and increased 20.4% year over year. Revenues of $7,071 million missed the consensus mark of $7,260 million by 2.6% but rose 4.8%. The results benefited from higher fee revenues, room growth and improved worldwide RevPAR, which increased 3.4%. Adjusted net income amounted to $844 million, up 16% from $728 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted operating income increased 12% year over year to $1.33 billion. Gross fee revenues totaled $1.58 billion, reflecting an increase of 13% from the year-ago quarter. Franchise fees rose 19% to $1.02 billion, primarily driven by higher co-branded credit card fees, room growth and increased RevPAR. Base management fees were $343 million, up 1% year over year. Incentive management fees increased 6% to $212 million, aided by strong growth in the United States and Canada, partly offset by declines in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Marriott International, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Marriott International, Inc. Quote Worldwide comparable systemwide RevPAR increased 3.4% in constant dollars year over year. The upside was backed by a 3.5% increase in average daily rate, while occupancy declined 0.1 percentage points to 71.6%. Comparable systemwide RevPAR in the United States and Canada rose 5%. Average daily rate increased 4.7%, while occupancy improved 0.2 percentage points to 74%. The luxury category led the region, with composite luxury RevPAR advancing 9.1%. International comparable systemwide RevPAR declined 0.5%. Europe RevPAR rose 4.2%, while Greater China and Asia Pacific excluding China increased 3.2% and 5.3%, respectively. Caribbean and Latin America RevPAR gained 3%. Middle East and Africa RevPAR fell 33.1%, reflecting conflict-related headwinds. Occupancy in the region declined 15.8 percentage points, while average daily rate decreased 12.1%. General and administrative expenses totaled $220 million compared with $210 million in the prior-year quarter. The increase reflected higher compensation costs, partly driven by timing. Depreciation, amortization and other expenses increased to $115 million from $53 million. The rise primarily resulted from a $68 million impairment charge related to the sale of a U.S. and Canada hotel. Adjusted operating margin expanded to 66% from 65% a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $1.59 billion, up 13% from $1.42 billion in the second quarter of 2025. At the end of the second quarter, Marriott's total debt was $16.9 billion compared with $16.2 billion at the end of 2025. Cash and equivalents totaled $0.5 billion, up from $0.4 billion at the end of 2025. The company repurchased 3 million shares for $1.1 billion during the quarter. Year to date through July 29, 2026, Marriott repurchased 6.2 million shares for $2.2 billion. The company returned approximately $2.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the same period. Marriott added roughly 17,900 net rooms during the quarter, including approximately 11,000 net rooms in international markets. Net rooms grew 4.5% from the end of the second quarter of 2025. At quarter-end, the company's global system comprised more than 10,000 properties and nearly 1.81 million rooms. Marriott Bonvoy membership exceeded 295 million. The worldwide development pipeline reached a record 4,186 properties and approximately 629,000 rooms. The pipeline included 1,757 properties with more than 279,000 rooms under construction. Conversions remained an important growth driver, representing more than one-third of signings and 40% of openings in the first half of 2026. For the third quarter of 2026, Marriott expects worldwide RevPAR growth of 3.5-4%. Gross fee revenues are projected between $1.47 billion and $1.48 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated in the range of $1.44-$1.47 billion. Adjusted earnings are expected between $2.74 and $2.82 per share. For 2026, management raised its worldwide RevPAR growth forecast to 3-3.5%. Gross fee revenues are expected between $6.03 billion and $6.06 billion, while adjusted EBITDA is projected in the range of $5.97-$6.03 billion. The company expects adjusted earnings of $11.64-$11.81 per share. Net room growth is anticipated at the low end of the 4.5-5% range, while capital returns to shareholders are projected to exceed $4.5 billion. MAR currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer-Discretionary sector are Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH, The Marcus Corporation MCS and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC. Life Time Group presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Life Time Group delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.9%, on average. The stock has surged 69.6% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LTH’s 2026 sales and EPS implies growth of 11.3% and 18.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Marcus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings miss of 34.2%, on average. The stock has gained 87.6% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Marcus’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 6.3% and 211.8%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels. AMC Entertainment presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 321.7%, on average. The stock has rallied 80.8% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC Entertainment’s 2026 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 13.3% and 77.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Marriott International, Inc. (MAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marcus Corporation (The) (MCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. LYV reported second-quarter 2026 results, with earnings and revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top and bottom lines increased year over year.Live Nation’s performance benefited from strong global demand for live events, record second-quarter attendance and solid Ticketmaster growth. International markets supported expansion across the company’s operating segments, while concert profitability was affected by show timing and venue investments. The company reported earnings of $1.05 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 59 cents by 77.97%. The figure increased 156.1% from 41 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. Quote Revenues of $7.67 billion beat the consensus mark of $7.53 billion by 1.8%. The top line increased 9.4% year over year. Operating income rose 7.2% to $521.9 million, while adjusted operating income increased 2.3% to $817 million. Concerts: Segmental revenues totaled $6.44 billion, up 8.4% year over year. Fan count increased 10% to nearly 49 million, marking the company’s highest second-quarter attendance. International attendance at stadiums, arenas and festivals increased more than 20%.Concerts adjusted operating income declined 13.7% to $309.6 million. Results were affected by the timing of stadium shows, venue pre-opening costs and investments in new international festivals. Event-related deferred revenues rose 25% to a record $6.4 billion.Ticketing: Revenues amounted to $852.2 million, up 14.7% from the prior-year quarter. Adjusted operating income increased 14.1% to $331 million.Ticketmaster sold 90 million fee-bearing tickets, up 8%. Concert ticket volume advanced 11% and accounted for 90% of the overall ticket-volume increase. Fee-bearing gross transaction value rose 15% to more than $10 billion, while deferred service-fee revenues increased 23% to $390 million.Sponsorship & Advertising: Revenues totaled $383 million, up 12.5% year over year. Adjusted operating income increased 12.9% to $256.9 million.International markets and the expanding venue and festival portfolio supported growth. The number of strategic partners generating more than $1 million in annual revenues increased more than 20%. The company had booked 95% of its 2026 sponsorship commitments. Live Nation’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $9.07 billion as of June 30, 2026, up from $7.09 billion at the end of 2025. Deferred revenues increased to $7.33 billion from $4.46 billion over the same period.For the six months ended June 30, 2026, net cash provided by operating activities was $2.76 billion compared with $1.54 billion in the prior-year period. Purchases of property, plant and equipment totaled $598.5 million, up from $434.2 million a year earlier. The company expects full-year fan attendance to increase 10%. Attendance at operated venues is projected to grow at a double-digit rate, while attendance at third-party venues is expected to rise at a high-single-digit pace.Concerts revenues and adjusted operating income are expected to increase at a double-digit rate, with most of the year-over-year profit improvement anticipated in the fourth quarter. Ticketmaster adjusted operating income is projected to grow at a mid-single-digit rate, while Sponsorship adjusted operating income is expected to advance double digits.Live Nation expects full-year capital expenditures of $1.1 billion, toward the lower end of its initial range. Approximately $800 million is allocated to venue expansion and enhancement projects. The pipeline includes more than 25 large venues scheduled to open through 2027, providing capacity for 15 million incremental fans on a run-rate basis. Live Nation currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Consumer-Discretionary sector are Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH, The Marcus Corporation MCS and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC.Life Time Group presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here. Life Time Group delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.9%, on average. The stock has surged 66.3% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LTH’s 2026 sales and EPS implies growth of 11.3% and 18.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Marcus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings miss of 40.4%, on average. The stock has gained 91.5% in the year-to-date period.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Marcus’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 6.2% and 211.8%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.AMC Entertainment presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 321.7%, on average. The stock has rallied 77.6% in the year-to-date period.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC Entertainment’s 2026 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 13.3% and 77.1%, respectively, from the year-ago levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (LYV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marcus Corporation (The) (MCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Interested in Life Time Group Holdings, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Strong Q2 performance: Life Time’s revenue rose 13.7% to $866 million, while comparable center revenue increased 9.1%. Net income grew 40.6% and adjusted EBITDA rose 16.8% to $246.5 million. Raised 2026 outlook: Management lifted its full-year comparable center revenue growth forecast to 7.9%–8.3% and increased revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA guidance, supported by pricing, membership mix and higher in-center spending. Expansion and strategic focus: Life Time expects to open seven clubs in Q4 2026 and plans 12–14 additional clubs in 2027. The company is prioritizing premium in-club programs and member-experience technology, while keeping MIORA in an incubation phase and moving away from a paid digital-subscription model. HSAs for Gym Memberships? These 3 Fitness Stocks Could Soar Life Time Group (NYSE:LTH) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 13.7% to $866 million, supported by higher membership dues and increased spending on in-center services. Comparable center revenue rose 9.1%, exceeding the company’s expectations and prompting management to raise full-year comparable center revenue guidance. Chief Financial Officer Erik Weaver said comparable center revenue growth reflected four components: improved membership mix contributed 3.1 percentage points, pricing added 2.9 points, in-center businesses added 2.9 points and membership volume added 0.2 points. The in-center contribution was driven largely by double-digit year-over-year growth in Dynamic Personal Training and LifeSpa. → Why SK hynix Could Be the Best AI Chip Stock to Buy Now 3 gym stocks to cash in on dieters’ New Year's resolutions The company raised its full-year comparable center revenue growth outlook to 7.9% to 8.3%, from a prior range of 6.9% to 7.5%. Weaver said the midpoint of the updated guidance remains above Life Time’s previously communicated long-term growth framework, though the company expects some seasonal moderation in the second half of the year. Average monthly dues reached $245 during the quarter, up about 12.3% from a year earlier, while average revenue per center membership increased 11.8% to $993. Management attributed the increases primarily to favorable membership mix trends and its pricing strategy. → Microsoft Just Flipped the AI Spending Narrative Overnight MarketBeat ‘Stock of the Week’: Livent set to dig out of a hole Life Time ended the quarter with approximately 860,000 center memberships, representing 1.2% year-over-year growth. The company has been reducing qualified medical memberships administered through third-party medical insurance providers. Those memberships declined by about 20,600, or 18.9%, from the prior-year period, while all other memberships increased by approximately 30,900, or 4.2%. Weaver said the membership-mix strategy helped drive a 13.3% increase in total dues revenue. The company expects total center membership growth of 1% to 1.5% in the third quarter and 2% to 3% in the fourth quarter. Excluding qualified medical memberships, Life Time expects membership growth of 4% to 5% in each of those quarters. → Carrier Earnings Could Send the Stock to a New All-Time High Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bahram Akradi said qualified medical memberships should become a progressively smaller part of the business. He said the company is discussing renewals with partners while seeking flexibility to manage club capacity and member experiences. Qualified medical memberships accounted for about 3% of total dues revenue at the end of the year, according to management, and are expected to fall below that level over time. Second-quarter net income was $101.4 million, up 40.6% year over year. Adjusted net income increased 30.6% to $109.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose 16.8% to $246.5 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin improved 80 basis points to 28.5%. The company also increased its full-year 2026 revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA guidance. It raised the midpoint of its adjusted EBITDA margin outlook to 28.2%. Management said the outlook includes pre-opening costs and early operating-ramp effects from seven clubs expected to open during the fourth quarter. Net cash provided by operating activities increased 7.1% from the prior-year quarter to $209.6 million. Capital expenditures rose 18.6% to $263.3 million, reflecting construction activity for 2026 openings and clubs planned for 2027. Life Time has opened seven of the 14 clubs planned for 2026, with the remaining seven expected to open in the fourth quarter. The company continues to expect 12 to 14 new clubs in 2027, with 10 already under construction. Akradi said the late-2026 openings are expected to have a more meaningful contribution in 2027 than in the current year. In April, Life Time completed sale-leaseback transactions that generated about $200 million in proceeds. The company expects to complete roughly $400 million in sale-leaseback transactions for the full year, supporting its objective of generating positive annual free cash flow. Akradi said management is evaluating future capital-allocation options with attention to weighted average cost of capital and return on invested capital, but intends to remain disciplined on its current plan. Akradi highlighted demand for CTR, Life Time’s large-group Pilates reformer class, and HYBRID XT, a conditioning and strength-training format paired with the company’s LT Games Hybrid Athlete Competition. CTR is expected to reach about 60 locations by year-end, and Akradi said the company ultimately expects the format to be available in most clubs with suitable space. Weaver said CTR has the highest bill rate among the company’s programming and has developed wait lists. Management said the programs are intended to support membership acquisition, engagement and dues growth rather than function as separate in-center revenue offerings. Akradi said newer clubs are opening with higher initial dues, fewer targeted memberships and more comprehensive programming included in the offering. Life Time also said it is working to improve food-and-beverage processes and margins before pursuing revenue-growth strategies in that business during 2027. Management sees additional revenue and margin opportunities in LifeSpa and cafes, though Akradi said the company’s primary focus remains on overall club revenue and contribution margins rather than isolated business-line profitability. The company is operating six or seven MIORA locations, its health and wellness concept, but Akradi said the business remains in an incubation phase and is not yet material to financial results. Life Time is working through technology and customer-journey processes before expanding the concept more aggressively. Akradi said Life Time is studying peptides and related wellness applications for MIORA, while emphasizing caution around the evolving market and compounded products. He said the company is using its current MIORA locations to assess potential offerings under the oversight of Chief Science Officer James LaValle. Meanwhile, Life Time has shifted its technology focus away from building a paid digital-subscription business. Akradi said the company found that digital subscriptions had high attrition rates and decided to prioritize technology that improves the member experience at its clubs. The Life Time app remains available without charge, and management said user growth has continued organically. Life Time Group (NYSE: LTH) is a premier operator of health, fitness and lifestyle centers across North America. The company's core business encompasses the development, ownership and management of premium athletic resorts that integrate state-of-the-art fitness facilities, group exercise studios, indoor and outdoor pools, running tracks, and spa and salon services. In addition to its brick-and-mortar clubs, Life Time offers a digital platform featuring on-demand and live-streamed workouts, personalized training programs and nutrition guidance, enabling members to pursue their wellness goals both at home and on the go. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Chanhassen, Minnesota, Life Time has grown from a single Minnesota health club into a network of more than 160 locations across the United States and Canada. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Life Time Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for July 2026.

Mattel, Inc. MAT is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 4, after the closing bell. MAT’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed twice, with the average negative surprise being 1.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share is pegged at 3 cents, down 84.2% year over year. For revenues, the consensus mark is pegged at $1.08 billion. The metric indicates a gain of 6% from the year-ago quarter’s figure. Mattel’s second-quarter 2026 top line is likely to have benefited from sustained strength in several high-performing brands and healthy consumer demand. Hot Wheels is expected to have remained a key growth engine, supported by continued momentum in vehicles, while UNO, Monster High, Masters of the Universe and the recently launched Mattel Brick Shop are likely to have contributed meaningfully. Partner brands such as Toy Story and WWE, along with expanding digital game licensing revenue and the consolidation of Mattel163, are also expected to have provided incremental sales support. Management noted that consumer demand remained healthy, the toy industry continued to expand, and second-quarter sales trends had accelerated from the first quarter. Another driver of second-quarter revenue is likely to have been the improving retailer ordering patterns in North America after prior disruptions, coupled with continued strength across international markets. The company expects North America to return to growth as retailer inventory movements normalize, while shipments are anticipated to have accelerated during the quarter. Upcoming entertainment releases, particularly the Masters of the Universe movie and related product launches, robust demand for Mattel Brick Shop, expanding action figures and games and ongoing investments in digital gaming and brand-led initiatives are also expected to have supported revenue growth. Mattel’s bottom line in the second quarter is likely to have remained under pressure from elevated tariff-related costs, inflation and unfavorable foreign exchange movements, even though management expects sequential gross margin improvement. Higher spending on strategic growth initiatives, including digital games, technology and infrastructure, along with increased advertising and marketing investments tied to product launches and entertainment initiatives, may also have weighed on profitability. While cost-saving programs and tariff mitigation efforts should have provided some relief, margins are expected to have remained below the company's full-year target during the quarter. Our proven model doesn’t conclusively predict an earnings beat for Mattel this time. A stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. That is not the case here. Earnings ESP for MAT: Mattel has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Mattel’s Zacks Rank: The company has a Zacks Rank #3 at present. Mattel, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Mattel, Inc. Quote Here are some stocks from the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector that investors may consider, as our model shows that these, too, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat. Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. LTH has an Earnings ESP of +1.12% and sports a Zacks Rank of 1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Life Time Group is expected to register a 21.6% increase in earnings for the to-be-reported quarter. LTH reported better-than-expected earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 10.9%.Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation VAC currently has an Earnings ESP of +5.26% and a Zacks Rank of 3.Marriott Vacations earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 1%. VAC reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed on one occasion, with the average surprise being 0.7%.Cinemark Holdings, Inc. CNK currently has an Earnings ESP of +6.40% and a Zacks Rank of 3.Cinemark’s earnings for the to-be-reported quarter are expected to increase 57.1%. CNK reported lower-than-expected earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average negative surprise being 20.4%. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Mattel, Inc. (MAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (VAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cinemark Holdings Inc (CNK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.48 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.45 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.37 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +6.67%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this company would post earnings of $0.39 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.42, delivering a surprise of +7.69%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Life Time Group Holdings, which belongs to the Zacks Leisure and Recreation Services industry, posted revenues of $866 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.55%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $761.47 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Life Time Group Holdings shares have added about 71.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 6.9%. While Life Time Group Holdings has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Life Time Group Holdings was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.44 on $867.88 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.70 on $3.33 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Leisure and Recreation Services is currently in the top 34% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Target Hospitality (TH), has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. This company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.10 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +33.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 13.6% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. Target Hospitality's revenues are expected to be $79.27 million, up 28.7% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (LTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report Target Hospitality Corp. (TH) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research