Tuesday, January 03, 2017

2016 Las Vegas Stock Recap

With the calendar now showing January 2017, let's take a look back and see how Las Vegas stocks did in 2016.

The big three Las Vegas stocks - MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands all had good years increasing by more than 20% each. The companies rode the wave of a recovering Macau market combined with strong non-gaming Las Vegas metrics.

In Macau Wynn Palace opened on the Cotai Strip in August. Sands opened The Parisian a few weeks later in in September. Meanwhile in the United States MGM National Harbor near Washington DC was opened in December to capacity crowds.

Caesars Entertainment stock finished the year up just over 7%. Caesars is still involved in seemingly never-ending bankruptcy litigation, but the stock could have some speculation value if they are able to escape bankruptcy with most of the company still in-tact.

Regional operators Boyd Gaming and Penn National didn't fare as well as their international counterparts. Boyd was up a slight 1.5% as they integrated their new Aliante and Cannery acquisitions. Penn was down 13.9% perhaps negatively affected by the anticipated opening of MGM National Harbor stealing business from their Charles Town property.

2016 Las Vegas stock results: (not including dividends)

CompanySymbolStartEndChange
MGMMGM22.7228.83+26.9%
WynnWYNN69.1986.51+25%
SandsLVS43.8453.41+21.8%
CaesarsCZR7.898.50+7.7%
BoydBYD19.8720.17+1.5%
PennPENN16.0213.79-13.9%