Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MPEL) operates casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities in Asia. In order to cash in on a fast growing Philippine economy and increased tourism, Melco Crown launched its long-awaited new integrated casino resort, City of Dreams Manila. It is a part of the company’s plans to have casinos across Asia.
Meanwhile, Melco Crown earns a better part of its revenues from Macau, the only gambling destination in China. However, gambling revenues in Macau are currently slowing down due to anti-graft corruption drive undertaken by the Chinese government.
China's crackdown on illegal money transfers; credit growth issues and tighter restrictions on visas have had a negative impact on revenues in this region. The weakening of yuan further dent Macau’s gambling revenues as it gets more expensive for Chinese gamblers to place bets. Also, slowdown in the Chinese economy is hurting the mass market segment.
Investors should also note that the earnings estimates for MPEL have remained stable over the past 30 days. Meanwhile, MPEL has a poor history in earnings season. Melco Crown has missed earnings results in two of the last four quarters, making for an average negative surprise of 12.12%.
Currently, MPEL has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could change following Melco Crown’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: MPEL beats on adjusted earnings. Our consensus earnings estimate called for EPS of 5 cents per share, and the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 7 cents instead. Investors should note that these figures take out stock option expenses.
Revenues: MPEL reported revenues of $1.10 billion. This missed our consensus estimate of $1.23 billion.
Key Stats to Note: Adjusted Property EBITDA was $248.8 million, down 2% year over year due to lower contribution from the group-wide rolling chip segment, partially offset by the contribution from the newly launched Studio City and the City of Dreams Manila.
MELCO CROWN ENT (MPEL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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