{"id":112715,"date":"2019-08-20T10:26:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T17:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=112715"},"modified":"2019-08-20T13:02:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T20:02:40","slug":"las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Sands Stock Hit With Downgrade, Analyst Trims Earnings Estimates, Citing Macau Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) stock is lower by more than 14 percent just this month amid concerns business is slowing in Macau, and one analyst is growing leery of the near-term outlook for the casino operator.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Venetian Macao. An analyst downgraded LVS stock today, citing weakness in the Chinese territory. (Image: Macau News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a note out Tuesday, Argus Research analyst John Staszak downgraded LVS to \u201chold\u201d from \u201cbuy\u201d while lowering his 2019 and 2020 earnings estimates on the operator of five Macau gaming properties.<\/p>\n

We expect non-gaming operations (conventions, hotels, and retail centers) to boost the company’s revenue in Las Vegas, and to help offset weakness in the Las Vegas gaming market,\u201d said Staszak in the note. \u201cAt the same time, we expect a decline in the number of wealthy gamblers traveling to Macau as the Chinese economy slows.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Las Vegas Sands reported second-quarter earnings<\/a> last month, lethargy in Macau was evident. For the April through June quarter, the company notched earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the Chinese gaming center of $765 million on revenue of $2.14 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of EBITDA of $788 million on turnover of $2.15 billion.<\/p>\n

Speaking Of Earnings<\/h2>\n

Sluggishness in Macau, where LVS runs the Parisian Macao, Sands Cotai Central, and Venetian Macao and two other gaming venues, is the impetus behind Staszak trimming his 2019 and 2020 earnings per share (EPS) estimates on the Las Vegas-based casino giant.<\/p>\n

For this year, the Argus analyst expects Sands to earn $3.30 a share, down from $3.70. Next year, he forecasts the company will earn $3.60, below a prior estimated of $4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We see \u201climited growth at Las Vegas Sands over the next 12 months, as the US-China trade war and a slowing Chinese economy have weakened the outlook for the Macau gaming industry,\u201d said Staszak.<\/p>\n

\n

While the US\/China trade spat and the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong<\/a> present Wall Street with reasons to be skeptical about the near-term outlook for Macau operators, not all analysts are convinced those factors are hindering business in the world’s richest gaming mecca.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Earlier this week, JPMorgan said the Hong Kong uprising will have a modest impact on Macau gross gaming revenue (GGR). LVS shares traded higher Monday following the release of the JPMorgan note, and the stock is in the green again today despite the Argus downgrade.<\/p>\n

Other Considerations<\/h2>\n

Staszak, the Argus analyst, acknowledged that if the US\/China trade tensions cool<\/a>, he could be compelled to revisit his view on Las Vegas Sands. His \u201chold\u201d rating on the stock isn’t unusual. Ten of the 21 analysts covering the casino operator have that label on the shares, while another 11 tag LVS with \u201cbuy\u201d or \u201coutperform\u201d ratings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While shares of gaming companies with Macau exposure have struggled against the backdrops of trade battles and geopolitical upheaval, the $55 handle LVS currently resides around could eventually be seen as good value because the average analyst price target on the stock resides closer to $71, implying healthy upside from current levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) stock is lower by more than 14 percent just this month amid concerns business is slowing in Macau, and one analyst is growing leery of the near-term outlook for the casino operator. In a note out Tuesday, Argus Research analyst John Staszak downgraded LVS to \u201chold\u201d from \u201cbuy\u201d while lowering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":112718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLas Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-20T17:26:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-20T20:02:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1679\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1118\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/\",\"name\":\"Las Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-20T17:26:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-20T20:02:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg\",\"width\":1679,\"height\":1118,\"caption\":\"The Venetian Macao. An analyst downgraded LVS stock today citing weakness in the Chinese territory. (Image: Macau News)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Sands Stock Hit With Downgrade, Analyst Trims Earnings Estimates, Citing Macau Slump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Las Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness","description":"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Las Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness","og_description":"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-08-20T17:26:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-20T20:02:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1679,"height":1118,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/","name":"Las Vegas Sands Hit With Downgrade as Analyst Sees Macau Weakness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-20T17:26:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-20T20:02:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Las Vegas Sands was hit with a downgrade as analyst sees lower earnings coming for the casino giant as business slows in Macau.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/vm2-1.jpg","width":1679,"height":1118,"caption":"The Venetian Macao. An analyst downgraded LVS stock today citing weakness in the Chinese territory. (Image: Macau News)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-hit-with-downgrade-as-analyst-sees-macau-weakness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Las Vegas Sands Stock Hit With Downgrade, Analyst Trims Earnings Estimates, Citing Macau Slump"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}