Macau casino revenue for February falls short of estimates
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Macau gross gaming revenue gained 6.1% in February to 7.76B patacas ($0.96B) to trail the consensus estimate for a 7.0% increase. Ongoing COVID restrictions and a sharp crackdown on two junket operators impacted traffic negatively. Macau GGR is down 8% on a year-over-year basis.
Jefferies is not confident that a positive turn for Macau is close.
"February will be the near-term peak in Macau's gaming revenue as Macau is unlikely to relax COVID policies due to HK daily cases having yet to peak (likely to worsen) and reports of new local outbreaks in Guangdong in the past few days. Further, the next China national holiday is May's Labour Day holiday. We maintain our expectations of a slow and gradual recovery that will be driven by government policies, thus we prefer US-names that have clearer visibility." notes analyst David Katz.
Macau casino stocks: Wynn Macau (OTCPK:WYNMF), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), Sands China (OTCPK:SCHYY), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), MGM China (OTCPK:MCHVF). MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM), Galaxy Entertainment (OTCPK:GXYEF), SJM Holdings (OTCPK:SJMHF), Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO), Macau Legend Development Limited (OTCPK:MALDF) and Studio City International (NYSE:MSC).
Last month, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was dropped a ratings notch at S&P Global.
