Las Vegas Still Slow, Hold on BYD (BYD)

While Atlantic City and Las Vegas saw their economic decline flatten in Q4, the Midwest and South's gambling markets continued to deteriorate. This led Oppenheimer to reiterate its Perform rating for Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD)- meaning they project its stock to perform in line with the S&P over the next 12-18 months. Justin Sebastiano at Morgan Joseph concurs, and maintains a Hold rating, with no hopes for significant growth in 2010.

BYD's revenue declined 9% year over year to $385 million, and EBITDA is down 23% y/y to $70 million.

Sebastiano's revenue and EPS estimates remain unchanged at $1.56 billion and $0.25. This is because the majority of Boyd's properties operate in gaming markets that continue to be effected by the overall economic downturn and/or increased competition.