MGM China saw a 21.4 percent increase in net revenue, to $1.23 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, according to results published ahead of their expected release on February 12th.
The group has now moved up the official results release to today, February 5th (5pm ET) along with the conference call, with a replay of the call available through February 12th.
A note by Seaport Research Partners citing the divulged data indicates that the market already responded to the results announcement, and ‘MGM stock is up significantly this morning’. Senior Analyst Vitaly Umansky, however, notes that ‘we think the large move is too excessive, even in light of the better than expected Las Vegas (and Macau) results’.
MGM China halted trading at 9am on Thursday, following the early release and resumed trading at 1pm (HK time).
Las Vegas ‘has been the key concern for investors’, highlights Umansky, and revenue of $2.17 billion (down 2.6 percent yearly) in the quarter ‘was above estimates’. EBITDAR of $735 million, down 3.9 percent yearly, still beat the Seaport estimate by 5.8 percent and topped consensus by 2 percent.
The Macau result beat Seaport estimates by 3 percent and consensus by 13 percent.
Umansky notes that ‘There is no clarity as to what drove the beats, but we expect high hold in Macau, and likely in Las Vegas contributed to the stronger than expected results’.
MGM China’s adjusted property EBITDAR (after the license fee) rose by 30.5 percent yearly, to $332 million, pushing the MGM’s total EBITDAR up by 9.7 percent yearly, to $635 million.
Profit before tax was down by 51.5 percent yearly for the MGM group overall, to $100 million, however net income increased by 86.5 percent year-on-year to $294 million.
Seaport maintains a Neutral rating for both MGM and MGM China, pending its official results and model updates.
