Improvements at Boyd Gaming’s Midwest and South casino properties motivated Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli to raise his cash-flow projection for the company today. In an investor note, Santarelli moved his first-quarter forecast for the Midwest/South region to $189 million, up from $186 million.
Santarelli did this on the basis of estimates showing Boyd casinos in those areas to be performing two percent better than expected in February and March. This comes on the heels of an 11 percent plunge in January, “reflective of harsh weather across the country.”
Although the analyst didn’t adjust his Las Vegas forecast for Boyd, he did allow that it had upside, due to less-than-expected cannibalization from rival Station Casinos’s new Durango Resort. He kept his projection at $114 million for the quarter. Santarelli also mapped an eight percent year-over-year growth for Boyd’s downtown Las Vegas casinos.
Santarelli maintained an “Overweight” rating on Boyd stock, with a price target of $80 per share. It was trading at $64.40 per share at the time of his report.
