Jefferies is upping their target on Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) to $163 from $124 on the strength of Macau and potential for future projects. LVS remains one of their top picks.
LVS
remains a dominant player in gaming with its unique product offering
providing all together convention space, malls, sizable room base and
Vegas-style gaming. This formula is being repeated in LV, Macau,
Singapore, and PA, and the firm believes this gives LVS an edge in
winning future markets.
The $39 raise in target price is due to:
1) They are now giving a 15% premium on LVS to reflect its true value as a growth company.
2)
The Macau market continues to perform solidly and exceed expectations,
thus the firm has raised their estimates accordingly. While September
numbers have yet to be released, they believe the recent opening of the
Venetian has helped bring in more visitors and more revenue than
originally anticipated and that the rest of the market is holding up
much better than expected.
Jeffco's '07 and '08 EPS and EBITDA estimates are raised to $1.55 and $993mm from $1.30 and $906mm, and to $4.03 and $2.2bb from $3.56 and $2.0bb, respectively.
Notablecalls: This is the new Street high target on LVS. I suspect Jeffco won't be the only firm out with a hefty target raise in the near term. Others will follow. While the stock is up solidly over the past weeks, I think this call will generate enough buy interest to push it to a new all-time high, I'm guessing (!) somewhere between the $135 and $140 level.
