Wall Street Bets: Aristocrat management, IGT and RemainCo, Las Vegas Strip room rates

Monday, December 9, 2024 12:53 PM
Photo:  CDC Gaming
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming

Wall Street Bets is a roundup of recent notes from analysts covering the gambling industry.

Aristocrat management

In a December 8 statement, Jeffries analyst David Katz commented on management changes at Aristocrat.

Hector Fernandez stepped down from his role as CEO of Aristocrat Gaming and will lead the privately owned, merged IGT and Everi gaming business post a one-year non-compete,” Katz wrote. “Aristocrat’s management will likely be fine in our view, but the development highlights the likely neutral position of IGT/Everi for 12-24 months, while ALL and Light & Wonder continue to lead the consolidated gaming, entertainment and travel market. From this perspective, we believe a bullish stance on both names becomes easier to support.”

(NOTE: ALL comes up as Allstate on the Nasdaq, not sure that is right}

IGT and RemainCo

Fitch Ratings on December 5 posted a statement about IGT and RemainCo.

“IGT’s pure play on the lottery business (with RemainCo) benefits from strong market penetration (~90% market share in Italy and ~75% in the U.S.), longstanding customer relationships primarily with governments, long-term contracts with recurring revenue and robust renewal rates,” the statement read. “RemainCo will be resilient and less prone to recessionary headwinds and economic shocks, considering it exhibits favorable characteristics such as less cash flow volatility, stable low-to-mid single-digit growth rates, and higher profit margins.”

Las Vegas Strip room rates

J. P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff posted the results of the company’s weekly Las Vegas Strip room rates for December 29, 2024, through January 4, 2025

“For the survey period, relative to the comparable period 2023, midweek rates are +83% and weekend rates are -14% (+52% overall),” Greff wrote. “By company: MGM rates are +58% for the midweek and -14% for the weekend (+37% overall); Caesar’s rates are +170% for the midweek and -30% for the weekend (+93% overall); Wynn rates are +75% for the midweek and -3% for the weekend (+53% overall); Venetian/Palazzo rates are +129% for the midweek and +14% for the weekend (+96% overall).”

Rege Behe is lead contributor to CDC Gaming. He can be reached at rbehe@cdcgaming.com. Please follow @RegeBehe_exPTR on Twitter.