Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Las Vegas Sands Fourth Quarter 2015 Results

Las Vegas Sands reported fourth quarter and full year 2015 earnings results earlier today. The weak Asia market continued to weigh on results, with full year consolidated casino revenue down 25%.

In Las Vegas at the company's Venetian and Palazzo properties gaming revenue was flat in the fourth quarter. Non-gaming on the other hand was very strong again with rooms up 25% and food and beverage up 20%.

Sands reiterated the decision to raise the quarterly dividend by 10.8% from 65 to 72 cents per share starting in 2016. I said it before, but it's impressive the company is able to raise the dividend in the face of weaker Macau gaming revenue.

On the earnings conference call CEO Sheldon Adelson talked about the prospects of expanding to other markets, mentioning Northern New Jersey, Atlanta, Texas, Brazil, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand among others as possibilities.

There was also some interesting chatter on the conference call that Wynn Palace might get delayed again, although this is obviously speculation. We'll have to keep an eye on the upcoming Wynn Resorts earnings results for more detail about that.