{"id":16468,"date":"2015-07-24T09:44:18","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T17:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=16468"},"modified":"2015-07-24T09:55:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T17:55:28","slug":"boyd-gets-wall-street-love-louisiana-expansion-slows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/boyd-gets-wall-street-love-louisiana-expansion-slows\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyd gets Wall Street love; Louisiana expansion slows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boyd Gaming<\/strong> doesn’t make Wall Street<\/strong>‘s hit parade very often, so this morning’s dispatch from Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> the \"boyd-gaming-200\"<\/a>more remarkable. “The improving regional [gross gaming revenue]\u00a0climate and intense cost disciplines take our forecasts, and subsequently, our Price Target higher,” he wrote. Second-quarter cash flow comfortably exceeded expectations and Boyd raised projections for full-year cash flow by $32 million.<\/p>\n

J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> was also impressed<\/a> with Boyd’s numbers, both in terms of gaming revenue and cash flow, but continues to prefer Penn National Gaming<\/strong> among regional operators “given its robust development pipeline, solid free cash flow generation and balance sheet strength.” \"samstown-pic2\"<\/a>Still, Greff noted that “nine [Boyd] properties were up double-digits” and cash flow in the Las Vegas<\/strong> segment exceeded projections 10% — and 44% in Downtown. Hawaiian business is up and charter-air fuel costs are down, contributing to the rebound. In addition to a combined $160 million of maintenance, restaurant upgrades and room renovations, Boyd is embarking on the first phase of a Delta Downs<\/strong> expansion that will ultimately cost $45 million.<\/p>\n

Boyd management evinced only “limited interest” in converting to a
\nREIT structure. Instead, its priorities were more attention-grabbing, \"murren's<\/a>including potential expansion in the Las Vegas locals market, which Santarelli characterizes as “improving, though still possessing a tremendous runway.” More arresting still, “management expressed a willingness to acquire the MGM<\/strong> [Resorts International<\/strong>] share of Borgata.” Having tried so hard to get back into Atlantic City<\/strong>, would MGM abandon its foothold so blithely? And how important is roughly $25 million a month in gross gaming revenue to the lion’s bottom line? Still, with MGM CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> selling non-core assets left and right, I wouldn’t assume the Borgata is safe from the auction block.<\/p>\n

* Louisiana<\/strong>‘s gaming-revenue expansion, driven by the Golden Nugget<\/strong>, is reaching the outer limits of its elasticity. The Pelican State was up 2% last month, but 8% when the Nugget is discounted. Divided by operator, the results ranged from the pleasantly surprising (Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong>, up 5%) to terrible (Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, down 24%). The second-highest grossing casino in the state, Golden Nugget ($21.5 million) drew business off of Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s L’Auberge du Lac<\/strong> ($28 million, -14.5%) and Delta Downs ($14.5 million, -8%).<\/p>\n

In the crowded Shreveport<\/strong>\/Bossier City<\/strong> market, everyone except Margaritaville<\/strong> ($12 million, +23%) experienced declines, even usually reliable Eldorado Shreveport<\/strong> ($11 million, -4%). Caesars \"Auberge<\/a>lost market share at Horseshoe Bossier City<\/strong> ($16 million, -12%), Louisiana Downs<\/strong> ($3 million, -24%) and Harrah’s New Orleans<\/strong> ($21$ million, -31%). Pinnacle experienced adversity at Boomtown Bossier City<\/strong> ($4 million, -12%) but compensated for it with gains at L’Auberge Baton Rouge<\/strong> ($12 million, +4.5%, above<\/em>) and Boomtown New Orleans<\/strong> ($9 million, +4%). Likewise, a good month aboard Treasure Chest<\/strong> ($8.5 million, +7%) ameliorated a variety of modest declines at other Boyd-owned casinos.<\/p>\n

* Shame on Caesars Entertainment for introducing a cover charge for hotel guests wanting to use its GO Pool<\/strong>. Caesars may be squeezing a nickel until it drips blood these days but let’s hope this isn’t the leading edge of a wider Strip trend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boyd Gaming doesn’t make Wall Street‘s hit parade very often, so this morning’s dispatch from Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli the more remarkable. “The improving regional [gross gaming revenue]\u00a0climate and intense cost disciplines take our forecasts, and subsequently, our Price Target … 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":[23,51,14,199,7,85,84,11,69,30,111,9,129,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16468"}],"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=16468"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16472,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16468\/revisions\/16472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}