Q3 Preview: Analysts Slightly Bearish on Las Vegas Sands (LVS) into Numbers

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) shares are trading strong heading into third-quarter results, which are expected out after the market closes Thursday.

The Street is looking for Las Vegas Sands to report earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $2.34 billion. Earnings would be slightly lower when compared with 54 cents reported last quarter, but an gain from 34 cents reported in the third-quarter of last year.

Shares fell 9.2 percent in the quarter and are up 18.3 percent since.

Las Vegas Sands trades for 18.3x next year's expected earnings, compared with 22.0x for Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) and 24.7x for Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD).

Data from Bloomberg has 24 analysts with a Buy on LVS, four at Hold, and none with a Sell rating. The analyst price target average is $58, with a low of $50 and high of $73.

Analyst Comments

• Wedbush is modeling for earnings of 52 cents per share. Current EBITDA consensus is at $845.5 million, and Wedbush sees Las Vegas Sands reporting slightly below the mark, closer to $839 million. The firm commented that "given current sentiment in the gaming space as exhibited by stock reactions to recent releases, we do not believe even the modest hold adjusted beat we are forecasting, to be positively received."
  
  Wedbush points to near-term, headline risk for Las Vegas Sands, based on Wynn and Penn Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN) results.
  
  Wedbush said, "we believe poor hold at Sands Macau (September) and Venetian Macau (August) are likely to offset double digit sequential mass market revenue growth across the Macau portfolio and strong VIP volumes and hold at Four Seasons. In total, we expect poor VIP hold in Macau to be a $15- 20 mm drag on property level EBITDA in the quarter."
  
  
• Goldman Sachs seeks earnings of 47 cents per share and EBITDA of $838 million. Specifically, Goldman sees Las Vegas generating about $80 million of EBITDA, Macau of $379 million, and Singapore of $438 million.
  
  Goldman says investors will be focused on: (1) the outlook for the gaming markets in Macau and Singapore, (2) the progress of the company’s parcels 5&6 property and if they are still on track to open in early 2012, and (3) Las Vegas Sands’ progress towards improving its VIP business in Macau."

Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's EPS Insider section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release. You can also check out Las Vegas Sands's past performance at Streetinsider's Las Vegas Sands Income Statement.

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