Despite a slowdown in Macau's gross gaming revenue last month, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. are priced just right given recent estimate cuts, an analyst said yesterday, according to an AP report.
Gross gaming revenue, or gaming “win”, for Macau slipped around eight percent in December to approximately 8.1 billion patacas, compared with the 2.6 percent increase in November, hence confirming local casinos have also been affected by the global financial crisis as well as restriction on individual visas for mainland visitors.
“Win” is a gross figure, with no operating costs or other expenses deducted, and represents casino revenue only, not hotel, restaurant or bar revenue.
Analyst Jake Fuller of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC said there is limited risk to his fourth-quarter estimates for the Las Vegas-based casino operators' since he trimmed them in early December.
“We maintain our positive bias on both stocks on the view that current valuation appropriately discounts near-term estimate risk and we see material upside potential against recovered earnings in the 2010 to 2011 timeframe,” he wrote in a client note, as quoted by AP.
Fuller kept “overweight” ratings on Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, indicating that he advised to obtain a larger percentage of stocks on both companies.
He also reaffirmed a 60 US dollars share price target on Wynn and a 13 US dollars price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands.
Shares of Wynn Resorts gained 3.27 US dollars, or 7.7 percent, to 45.53 US dollars in midday trading on Nasdaq yesterday, while Las Vegas Sands stock added 13 percent, to 6.70 US dollars in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The broader market climbed Friday, shrugging off a weak manufacturing report.
Out of 31 casinos in Macau, 19 of which belonged to Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, while Galaxy has five casinos, Venetian owns three, Melco owns two, while Wynn and MGM each owns one.