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Wynn Resorts hits jackpot with 67% hike in Q4 earnings

Last updated: 07:30 03 Feb 2012 EST, First published: 08:30 03 Feb 2012 EST

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Casino operator Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) late Thursday beat estimates with fourth-quarter profit growth of 67 percent thanks to growth in its Macau and Las Vegas casinos.

Wynn is the world's third-largest casino company, as measured by revenue.

For the quarter that ended December 31, quarterly earnings rose to $190.5 million, or $1.52 per share, from $114.2 million, or 91 cents per share, in the 2010 period.

Revenue climbed nine percent to $1.34 billion from $1.24 billion a year earlier.

Excluding items, Wynn's net income totalled $1.55 per share, beating the average analyst forecast for $1.28 per share, according to FactSet.

However, revenue came in shy of the nearly $1.36 billion that analysts were expecting.

Much of the increase was due to a nine percent jump in revenue at Wynn's properties in China, Wynn Macau and Wynn Encore Macau, which generate the majority of the casino operator's earnings.

Customers spent $1.3 billion at its Macau slots, up 12 per cent year-over-year. And the company made more than expected from both its VIP table and mass market table games.

In Las Vegas, revenue rose seven percent to $348.4 million on a stronger take from table games and increased room, food and beverage and retail revenue. In Las Vegas, the company operates the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas resorts.

Investors remain worried about a possible slowdown in the growth of Wynn's Macau operations in China as well as an ongoing dispute between chief executive Steve Wynn and major shareholder Kazuo Okada.

In January, Kazuo Okada sued the casino operator in a Nevada court seeking an order allowing him to see the company's financial records.

In a conference call with investors, chief executive Steve Wynn cast the lawsuit as a ploy by Okada to distract from other problems Okada is having with a casino development in the Philippines.

For all of 2011, Wynn earned $613.4 million, or $4.88 per share, on revenue of $5.27 billion, compared with net income of $160.1 million, or $1.29 per share, on revenue of $4.18 billion in 2010.

Analysts on average had forecast earnings of $5.32 per share, and revenue of $5.29 billion for 2011, according to FactSet.

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