Casinos are a good investment — provided they’re outside the United States. That’s pretty much the bottom line, as seen through the rose-colored spectacles of blogger Martin Spring. He likes Genting Bhd and Internet-casino operator bwin Interactive Entertainment. Fine with me. But he also picks Stanley Ho‘s dud of an IPO (scarcely more robust than the frail, ailing casino oligarch himself) and “recovering” Las Vegas Sands. If $16.81/share — or 12% of Sands’ historic high — is recovery, I’d hate to see Spring’s definition of a serious ailment. Also, if he thinks casinos have “largely escaped political attack,” it’s been a long time since he’s read a newspaper.
On a less-snarky note, yes, the runaway runup in Macanese casino business bodes well for SJM and Sands — but also Wynn Resorts and even traditional market laggard MGM Mirage — now with 100% less Borgata! (I won’t throw in Melco Crown Entertainment, as it appears to be experiencing serious internal problems.) And, given Sheldon Adelson‘s surfeit of big-ticket, unfinished projects in the Pacific Rim, wouldn’t you be leerier of that stock than of almost any other Macao or Singapore operator? I know I would.
