{"id":201768,"date":"2022-02-16T10:52:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T18:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=201768"},"modified":"2022-02-16T12:10:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T20:10:43","slug":"lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/","title":{"rendered":"S&P Cuts Las Vegas Sands Credit Rating to Junk on Lethargic Macau Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) stripped Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) of its investment-grade credit rating, citing a slow recovery in Macau this year.<\/p>\n

\"LVS
Fireworks explode in the air outside the Las Vegas Sands’s Parisian Macau. S&P lowered the company’s credit rating. (Image: Forbes<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ratings agency lowered its grades on LVS and the operator’s Sands China unit to \u201cBB+,\u201dor one notch into junk territory, from \u201cBBB-.\u201d S&P maintains a negative outlook on the gaming company’s debt while revising its base case for Macau rebounding this year.<\/p>\n

Our current base case assumes Macau’s GGR will be 30 percent-40 percent of the 2019 level in 2022, down from the 60 percent-70 percent we forecast previously,\u201d said the research firm. \u201cThe company’s Macau resorts are heavily weighted toward mass market play, and GGR in this segment should improve to 45 percent-55 percent of pre-pandemic levels from about 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While shares of Sands are up 27 percent year-to-date and are earning praise from Wall Street<\/a>, the operator is highly tethered to Macau. The special administrative region (SAR) is the company’s largest market, as it runs five integrated resorts there, confirming its credit and equity are correlated to the goings-on in the world’s largest casino hub.<\/p>\n

China Holds Macau Cards<\/h2>\n

China’s zero-tolerance policy regarding COVID-19 is a stumbling block for Macau operators, including Sands. That’s because it leads to restricted travel when outbreaks occur, keeping gamblers away from the SAR.<\/p>\n

\n

There is some positive movement on that front, as Macau authorities said today that the gaming center is open to visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan — as long as those travelers are vaccinated against the coronavirus. That’s relevant to LVS and rivals<\/a>, because after mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are two of the largest feeder markets for Macau.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe revised our base-case forecast for Macau because we believe that the resumption of travel between Macau and Mainland China in 2022 will be slower than we initially anticipated, amid rising Omicron cases and tightening junket activity,\u201d notes S&P.<\/p>\n

The ratings agency estimates that LVS’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will be 35 percent to 50 percent of 2019 levels this year and 80 percent in 2023. However, S&P is constructive on recovery among mass-market gamblers \u2013 a positive for Sands because that’s the operator’s core constituency.<\/p>\n

LVS Credit Upgrade Unlikely Soon<\/h2>\n

Given the downward revisions to its 2022 Macau outlook<\/a>, S&P forecasts LVS will end 2022 with leverage of 7x, well above the 4.5x downgrade threshold for issuers in the \u201cBB+\u201d category.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are willing to look out to 2023 for LVS to restore credit measures because of the company’s high-quality asset portfolio and our belief that its gaming markets and assets will eventually recover along with leisure, business, and group travel,\u201d said the ratings agency.<\/p>\n

At the end of last year, Sands had $5.5 billion in cash and revolver availability — a figure that should grow as it wraps up the $6.25 billion sale of its Las Vegas assets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For investors hoping Sands will restore its dividend<\/a>, they may be waiting a while. S&P believes the company will prioritize investing in its assets and improving credit quality before resuming the payout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) stripped Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) of its investment-grade credit rating, citing a slow recovery in Macau this year. The ratings agency lowered its grades on LVS and the operator’s Sands China unit to \u201cBB+,\u201dor one notch into junk territory, from \u201cBBB-.\u201d S&P maintains a negative outlook on the gaming company’s debt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":201769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-02-16T18:52:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-16T20:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\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\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/\",\"name\":\"LVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-16T18:52:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-16T20:10:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Las Vegas Sands's Parisian Macau. S&P lowered the company's credit rating. (Image: Forbes)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#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\":\"S&P Cuts Las Vegas Sands Credit Rating to Junk on Lethargic Macau Recovery\"}]},{\"@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":"LVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound","description":"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound","og_description":"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-02-16T18:52:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-16T20:10:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.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\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/","name":"LVS Credit Rating Moved To Junk By S&P On Slow Macau Rebound","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg","datePublished":"2022-02-16T18:52:59+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-16T20:10:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Las Vegas Sands's credit rating downgraded to junk by S&P due to slow Macau recovery.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/PM.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Las Vegas Sands's Parisian Macau. S&P lowered the company's credit rating. (Image: Forbes)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lvs-credit-rating-moved-to-junk-by-sp-on-slow-macau-rebound\/#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":"S&P Cuts Las Vegas Sands Credit Rating to Junk on Lethargic Macau Recovery"}]},{"@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\/201768"}],"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=201768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}