{"id":15966,"date":"2015-05-01T11:21:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T19:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15966"},"modified":"2015-05-01T11:32:23","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T19:32:23","slug":"boyd-shatters-expectations-dover-downs-flounders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/boyd-shatters-expectations-dover-downs-flounders\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyd shatters expectations; Dover Downs flounders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compared to Steve Wynn<\/strong>‘s gloom — and sapped stock price<\/a> — about Las Vegas’ immediate economic prospects earlier this week, Boyd Gaming<\/strong> CEO Keith Smith<\/strong> was bullish on Sin City. And why not? Boyd \"suncoast-pic\"<\/a>reported profits of 31 cents a share<\/a>, exponentially higher than Wall Street<\/strong>‘s dime-a-share consensus. Citing a 3% reduction in local cash flow, J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> basically yawned at the results, maintaining his “neutral” rating on the stock. Not even above-expectation results at every outlying Boyd jurisdiction, including 12% at Borgata<\/strong>, was enough to move Greff.<\/p>\n

Increased pedestrian traffic in Downtown Vegas, cheaper jet-fuel costs and increased Hawaiian visitation\u00a0were cited as drivers of business, offsetting a major disruption of business at Suncoast<\/strong> that was attributed to nearby road work. The company is also investing aggressively in property maintenance, budgeting $100 million for its Boyd-branded properties, $15 million for its Peninsula Gaming<\/strong> division (Iowa<\/strong>, Kansas<\/strong> and Louisiana<\/strong>) and $40 million at Borgata. Smith attributed the discrepancy between his outlook and Wynn’s to differing constituencies<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re having a good April and May looks pretty good to us.\u00a0June is a little soft for now, but that\u2019s typical of this time of year. I understand what Mr. Wynn said, but our operation is different … I think there are some positive signs out there across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

A successful appeal of an IRS<\/strong> ruling (you go, Boyd) contributed $23 million to the bottom line. As for revenue drivers, Smith allowed that “we\u2019re seeing a younger demographic of customers who are looking for high-quality and engaging amenities. At the same time, our existing customers have shifted more of their spending away from the casino floor.\u201d Boyd hasn’t completely gone off the idea of a REIT conversion (despite spending $3 million to study the issue) but had nothing to say on the topic yesterday.<\/p>\n

* Despite “incredibly healthy demand” for rooms during Mayweather-Pacquiao<\/strong> weekend, the supply\/demand equation shows signs of tilting in the consumer’s favor<\/a>. Elsewhere on the Strip, lingering vestiges of Desert Passage Mall<\/strong> (now Miracle Mile Shops<\/strong>) are scheduled for remova<\/a>l, as the property continues its incredibly conversion to an aesthetic consonant with its Planet Hollywood<\/strong>-related branding.<\/p>\n

* Caught between the pincers of high taxes and declining attendance, Dover Downs<\/strong> is eliminating table games during graveyard shift. The Delaware<\/strong> racino has been suffering a \"markell\"<\/a>steady attrition of jobs.\u00a0“This further cutback is not a pleasant one to make, but unfortunately, in light of our position we must make it. We’ve cut everywhere else we possibly can and the only remaining areas where we can affect change is payroll and marketing. Well, we’ve been very conservative with our marketing and you can see the results this quarter,” said CEO Denis McGlynn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dover Downs posted its first-ever loss last \u00a0year (-$706,000) and came within an ace of being relegated to penny-stock status<\/a>. The Lottery & Gaming Study Commission<\/strong> has recommended several changes in policy, including a reduction in taxes on table games, but Gov. Jack Markell<\/strong>\u00a0(D, pictured<\/em>) doesn’t sound like he’s behind any significant change in the status quo<\/em>, saying,\u00a0“I’m hopeful that in the end we can get to a place where they can be successful.\u00a0They’ve been very important employers to us before and I hope that they will be for a long time to come.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compared to Steve Wynn‘s gloom — and sapped stock price — about Las Vegas’ immediate economic prospects earlier this week, Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith was bullish on Sin City. And why not? Boyd reported profits of 31 cents a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,60,164,51,14,86,45,84,6,111,74,31,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15969,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966\/revisions\/15969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}