Casino Stocks Outperform In 2016 As Vegas Gaming Sales Flat

Gaming revenues on the Las Vegas strip during the fiscal year 2016 were steady year-over-year, with the Nevada Gaming Control Board reporting $5.8 billion in gaming revenue on the strip, a 0.2 percent increase.

Major publicly traded casino companies saw losses of more than 1 percent in Wednesday trading, with MGM Resorts International MGM seeing the biggest drop, and similar results at Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN and Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS.

The three have blazed past the market as a whole in the last 12 months, with MGM gaining 39.41 percent since January 2016, Wynn up by 63.9 percent and Sands gaining 43.34 percent.

Mixed Picture For Macau Gambling Revenue

MGM, Wynn and Sands all operate casinos in both Las Vegas and an ocean away in Macau, China. Their market performance could also point to signs of a turnaround on the Asian peninsula, which is the world’s largest gambling center.

A December report on casino numbers in Macau showed gross gaming revenues of $27.9 billion, a drop of 3.3 percent from the year before, according to Forbes. Gaming revenue in the Asian gambling capital is down for the third year in a row, but Forbes added there's “nearly universal” agreement that Macau’s casinos are undergoing a recovery.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) MPEL, which operates casino resorts such as City of Dreams and Studio City in Macau, was down in Wednesday trading but has gained 14.77 percent in the last year.