Who says the house always wins? Not over at Caesars Casino apparently.
Casino Palace People Caesars Entertainment Corp. said that its loss grew in the second quarter, driven by bumper charges on its land costs in Macau, primarily.
The results were below stock market expectations, and the company’s shares tanked by over 3 percent.
Caesars said its loss grew to over $240 million, or $1.93 per share, in the quarter ended 30.6.2012. That compares with a loss of just over $150 million, or $1.24 per share, in the same period in 2011. Ouch. that’s a lot of red ink there.
A loss of 82 cents per share was priced in to the shares prior to the announcement.
The latest included a $101 million whopper charge due to a land concession in Macau.
The company’s revenue was up by 2%, however, to $2.17 billion from $2.16 billion. BUT, the cone heads in Wall Street had predicted revenue of $2.29 billion.
Higher growth in its international and online operations helped increase revenue for the casino operator. That was set against lower casino number in the United States, mostly in Atlantic City.
The company stated that casino revenue went downhill between Q1 and Q2 as the US economy deflated.
“After a strong Q1, tricky dicky economic conditions led to lower bums on seats in several areas, resulting in our core operating results taking a hit in Q2,” said Gary Loveman, Caesars’ chairman, CEO and Main Man.
There were 1.6% fewer trips to Caesars’ casinos during the quarter than in the same period last year, and spending per trip fell 1.9 percent.
They’ll be back, I guess. Could be a decent buying opportunity if the stock slides any further.
