Investing in gaming stocks recently has been like playing a broken slot machine, it just hasn’t been paying off.
Goodness knows that too many players seem to have “donated” enough money on the tables that they should own some of the casinos and would expect the share prices of some of these companies to reflect the play, but the overall market segment has been steadily declining despite positive earnings releases and strong “buy” recommendations from Wall Street analysts.
MGM Mirage (MGG) was down 3.9 percent to $32; Park Place Entertainment (PPE) was off 2.4 percent to $12.81; Harrah’s Entertainment (HET) fell 3 percent to $23.94. And the Mandalay Resort Group (MBG), which owns such mega properties as Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, the Excalibur and the Circus Circus was hit the hardest, with a 5.1 percent drop to around $20, well off of its 52-week high of $28 3/8 per share.
“Gaming and lodging stocks continue to trade below their historical mean, despite strong earnings-per-share growth relative to the S&P; 500. We estimate earnings-per-share growth will be 15-20% in 2001,” said Senior Gaming & Lodging Analyst Harry Curtis, from the investment bank Robertson Stephens, at the firm’s Consumer Conference in New York.
“I don’t see any disappointments coming out of any of the major Judi Togel Singapore companies,” said Jeffrey Logsdon, gaming analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison in San Francisco. “I don’t think any of the numbers out of the regional markets or the major gaming centers have shown any sign of weakness. Bookings look
extremely strong and pricing on rooms is 10 percent to 30 percent ahead of last year. It is actually a very strong macro picture.”
According to figures published by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority visitor attendance is up 8.4% from last year and the hotels in Las Vegas boast a better-than-90% occupancy rate. The number of convention attendees is also up 4.5% from 1999. So many investors and analysts are left asking themselves “When will the machine payoff?”
The 17th running of the Breeders’ Cup Championship will be held on Saturday, November 4, 2000, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. Post time for the first Breeders’ Cup race will be approximately 1:10pm EST.
The Breeders’ Cup Championship is Thoroughbred racing’s richest day that features eight races with purses and awards totaling $13 million. It is a record fifth time that Churchill Downs was tapped to host the Breeders’ Cup Championship. It was selected to host the championship in 1988, 1991, 1994, and in 1998. Breeders’ Cup 2000 is expected to draw a record attendance this year. Last year it drew more than 80,000 racing fans, surpassing the prior years 71,000 attendees.
One of the odds-on-favorites, Fusaichi Pegasus, the Kentucky Derby winner and a top contender for Horse of the Year, injured himself during a morning workout at Belmont Park prior to the running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup held on October 14, but is expected to make full recovery by post time. It will be his last start before retiring to stud.
Fusaichi Pegasus won the San Felipe Handicap, Wood Memorial, and Derby this spring, then was second in the Preakness Stakes. A majority stake in him was sold to Coolmore Stud this past summer. He is valued at more than $60 million. Fusaichi Pegasus also won the Jerome Handicap at Belmont in September.
Composer Marvin Hamlisch and Broadway actress Betty Buckley will be the featured entertainers at the Breeders` Cup Gala, scheduled for Friday, November 3, at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. Proceeds from the gala will benefit the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Muhammad Ali Center and NTRA Charities.
Churchill Downs is also home of the Kentucky Derby, one of Thoroughbred racing’s most famous races. The 127th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for May 5, 2001.
