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Amid Gambling Slump in Vegas, a Massive Overseas Casino IPO
Friday November 20, 11:47 am ET
By the tickerspy.com Staff

Overall, it's been a rough month for U.S.-listed casino stocks, but amid struggles in Las Vegas, a massive Macau operation is about to go on the block.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS - News) chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson is set to raise as much as $3.4 billion in the Hong Kong IPO of Macau unit Sands China. The company will sell 1.87 billion shares as early as tomorrow, according to Bloomberg. With a forecasted price range of HK$10.38 to HK$13.88 each, high-end estimates would bring Sands China's total market capitalization to approximately HK$110 billion.

Las Vegas Sands is currently the largest U.S.-listed casino operator in the Casino Stocks Index, with a total capitalization of $11 billion. Based on the current exchange rate, that's more than -20% smaller than high-end estimates of the Macau unit.

Elsewhere in the casino sector stocks have gotten much cheaper over the last month. While a recent report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority showed that Sin City traffic was up 3.3% year-over-year in September, a number of casino operators reported declines in gambling revenue in the third quarter.

Melco Crown Entertainment (NADSAQ: MPEL), Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ: MCRI - News), and Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD - News) have all slipped by more than -20% in the last month. Meanwhile, Isle of Capri Casinos (NASDAQ: ISLE - News), Century Casinos (NASDAQ: CNTY - News), and $3.1 billion MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM - News) have all slipped by 10% or more for the period.

Peripheral plays on the gambling segment in the Gaming and Slot-Machine Stocks Index haven't fared much better. Bally Technologies (NYSE: BYI - News) is the sector's only component to remain positive on a one-month basis. International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT - News) and WMS Industries (NYSE: WMS - News) are down by more than -7% in just the last week.

While the outlook for casino stocks is still a bit hazy, the sector has gotten cheap relative to earnings. As of this writing, the Casino Stocks Index is one of the 30 cheapest tickerspy Indexes by P/E ratio with an average multiple of 14x.

Investors can track the Casino Stocks Index for performance trends and a suite of other metrics at tickerspy.com.

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