Virus impact on Cedar Fair muted

SANDUSKY — As the fear of coronavirus sends shockwaves through the economy, could it affect Cedar Point's operations and stocks for its parent company, Cedar Fair? COVID-19 — a new strain in the coronavirus family of respiratory illnesses — has led to concerns of a pandemic since the disease spread out of China. An outbreak in the United States could affect Cedar Point — which normally draws thousands of people to Sandusky — if people decide to avoid large crowds. "This is an evolving situation, and procedures and protocols are subject to change in accordance with expert recommendations," Cedar Point spokesman Tony Clark said. "Cedar Fair is taking direction from the CDC and is following their recommendations, as well as our own processes and procedures, to prevent disease spread." Clark said the company hasn't seen any impact on business from COVID-19 and wouldn't speculate on any "future unknown business conditions," including if an outbreak could affect attendance. Allen Nickles, a local accountant, however, previously hypothesized it could increase the park's attendance instead of harming it if people decide to change travel plans to stay more local because of the coronavirus. Another aspect of the park's operations that the coronavirus could impact is its workforce since the government is placing travel bans on countries, where the disease is prevalent. "We typically welcome international students to become associates at Cedar Point during the key operation season," Clark said. "We expect that this will continue in 2020; at this time, students from China will not be joining us." Cedar Fair stocks The coronavirus panic led the stock market to have its worst week since the financial crisis of 2008 with amusement parks and travel industry suffering some of the worse setbacks, according to The Motley Fool, an investing website. Six Flags (SIX), SeaWorld (SEAS), Disney (DIS) and Cedar Fair (FUN) stocks all dropped last week. But Cedar Fair's stocks did start to recover by Friday. When the New York Stock Exchange closed Monday, Cedar Fair sat at $43.73 per share. Some experts believe this might be a good time to invest in Cedar Fair, which had record earnings in 2019 and is continuing to grow its business. Motley Fool contributor and stock advisor Jeremey Bowman listed Cedar Fair as one of the top three high-yield dividend stocks to consider investing in right now. He argued since many of its parks only operate in the summer months, it could be less affected by the coronavirus, and early increases in season pass sales for 2020 was a good sign. "If the coronavirus outbreak turns out to not be a threat this summer and performance improves, now could turn out to have been a prime opportunity to scoop up some Cedar Fair stock," Bowman wrote.