Short Interest in Casino Stocks

MGM Mirage (MGM) had rolled the dice and in May its lenders finally agreed to let the company raise up to $2.5 billion by selling new stocks and bonds, and then on 20th of May MGM completed a $1 billion public offering through the issuance of an additional 143 million shares.

As a result of this capital restructure the short base (as measured by Percent Shares Outstanding on Loan) in MGM has dropped by three quarters to 1.84%. Over the past week DX Short Interest (measured by the amount borrowed for the purpose of facilitating a short sale) has increased from 4.18mm shares to 6.92mm shares.

Over the past month Wynn Resorts (WYNN) has seen similar short covering, with its short base down 31.91% to 8.91%. Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) and International Game Technology (IGT) are bucking this trend with their short base increasing to 7.35% and 5.60% respectively.

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