Macau Recovery Will Drive Las Vegas Sands Q2 Results

Las Vegas Sands
LVS
is expected to publish its Q2 2023 results on Wednesday, July 19th. We expect the company’s revenues for the quarter to come in at about $2.39 billion, marking an increase of almost 2.5x versus last year and roughly in line with consensus estimates, driven by a rebound in activity in Macau and potential strength in the company’s Singapore business. We expect earnings to stand at about $0.42 per share, slightly below consensus estimates. See our analysis of Las Vegas Sands Earnings preview for a closer look at some of the key trends that will drive LVS’ earnings for the quarter.

Las Vegas Sands’ Macau business – which accounted for over 60% of the company’s pre-pandemic revenue – is seeing a strong rebound after China relaxed its intense Covid-19 restrictions earlier this year. While Macau revenues trended to a fraction of 2019 levels amid a dramatic decline in tourist inflows in 2021 and 2022, casino players are seeing strong pent-up demand primarily from the mass-market segment, while the VIP segment is also showing signs of picking up. This should help drive growth for this quarter. That being said, Casino companies have been held back to an extent by a severe labor shortage, as many foreign employees working in the hospitality sector in Macau left through the pandemic. LVS, for perspective, indicated that it opened just about 7,700 rooms during Q1 2023, keeping over a third of its rooms closed due to manpower shortages. That said, things are likely to have improved a bit over Q2.