Wynn Resorts (WYNN) Hits 52-Week High on Macau Revival
Shares of leading developer, owner and operator of casino resorts, Wynn Resorts Ltd. WYNN rallied to a 52-week high of $109.50 on Sep 15. However, the company ended the day’s trading a trifle lower at $108.68. Meanwhile, year to date, the stock has returned over 57%.
Notably, gross gaming revenues (GGR) for the month of August rose 1.1% on a yearly basis to approximately $2.4 billion or 18.8 billion patacas, per the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
After witnessing 26 months of consecutive decline, the rise in August marked a revival for Macau, which led to a rally in the share price of casino companies like Wynn Resorts, Melco Crown Entertainment Limited MPEL and Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS.
WYNN RESRTS LTD Price and Consensus
WYNN RESRTS LTD Price and Consensus | WYNN RESRTS LTD Quote
Meanwhile, on Aug 22, Wynn Resorts unveiled the Wynn Palace resort in the Cotai area of Macau. Notably, Wynn Palace, featuring 1,700 hotel rooms, a lake with gondolas and fountains, floral sculptures, expensive artwork, a meeting space, a casino, a spa, stores and exclusive food-and-beverage outlets, costs roughly $4.1 billion and is the company’s first resort in Cotai region.
In fact, the opening of Wynn Palace was a major reason for the turnaround in gambling revenues in Macau as it attracted visits from tourists and leisure gamblers.
Notably, the Macau region has been struggling over the past few quarters due to the Chinese government’s anti-graft corruption drive, which has lowered footfall at casinos. However, the company’s consistent efforts to boost tourism and traffic in Macau yielded results and the company had managed to turn around its operations in the region as evident in its second quarter of 2016 results. Wynn Macau revenues increased 3.6% year over year in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the company’s properties at Las Vegas continue to cash in on the benefits of an improving employment rate and positive tourism numbers in the region. In order to boost performance in Las Vegas, the company has even remodeled rooms at its properties and the baccarat pit.
Wynn Resorts currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the sector is Monarch Casino & Resort Inc. MCRI, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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