MGM Mirage (MGM)

As far as Las Vegas goes- there are only three brands that anyone views, locally, as the big dogs. Wynn. LVS. MGM. I completely believe MGM Mirage is the best of the 3 otherwise I would not work for them. Bellagio, our flagship, is still the best casino on the entire strip. Our mid-tier casinos compete with and prevail over Harrah's mid-tier casinos. I don't even consider Harrah's a major player. Caesars is a decent casino, but locally that's all Harrah's has in their pocket.

We are cutting back costs all over the place and marketing existing and new customers as if our lives depended on it. City Center opens about a year and a half from now. There will be a new president elected. things a year from now might be better or worse- no one knows. As an employee, I stand by our brand regardless. We have strong ownership. City Center is going to trump what our competitors are doing. And forget what people are saying about tourism taking a hit in Las Vegas. Summer is our slow season and receipts are always down (though in this economic climate it may be a little more drastic for '08). The real litmus test will come the day after Christmas, which begins the busy season for us through March. We're getting a lot of business from Europe too, especially the UK. Hotel is always between 93-100% occupancy every night.

When the economy goes back online, this is where people are going to want to be.

MGM MIRAGE, earlier known as MGM Grand, is the subsidiary of Tracinda Corporation, the investment arm of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian. The company mainly owns and operates casino resorts at 26 partially and wholly owned properties in the U.S., mainly located at Las Vegas Strip and Mississippi.

The company’s revenue is largely generated from its casino business that has been showing a rising trend. However, the company’s casinos contribute around 41% to its overall revenue, chunk of which is generated by slot machines, contrasting to the competitors like Harrah and Las Vegas Sands where casino revenue contributes over 70% to the tally.

MGM looks well position to drive its growth story forward. The $775 million hotel and casino in the growing Detroit market is almost ready to open. It will have about 50% more slots than the current temporary one, thus providing higher revenues, as slots are the major revenue drivers. Further, the company’s $975 million Macau casino is also expected to open in October 2007, thereby establishing MGM’s presence in the fastest growing Macau market. Moreover, Macau backed by the huge Chinese population and increasing number of casinos is expected to grow to $12.7 billion by 2008 year-end from $5.6 billion in 2005.

The company generated around $700 million with sale of its Primm and Laughlin properties in 2006. The rising land values will further help the company in getting exceptional prices for the proposed property sale at Reno and Chicago, hence aiding MGM to fund its future expansion plans. MGM has around 350 acres of under/undeveloped land worth $7 billion. Additionally, the company’s recent joint venture to enter the UAE market along with the $7 billion City Center project in the U.S., which is estimated to open in November 2009, makes MGM’s outlook very exciting for the years to come.

They say the only way to win at Las Vegas gambling is to not bet. Except for Las Vegas casino stocks, which the odds are going to zero. An overbuilt and over-hyped city built on illusion of the "wealth effect" Americans are losing and will not likely return for decades.

Las Vegas will die a slow death. Every state wants gambling revenue, so will broke Americans drive / fly all the way to Vegas or drive 20 minutes to the Indian or River Boat Casino to lose their money?
Would you want to retire in 100+ degree heat?
Eventually, water, electric and food will become pricey as oil is not coming down and Las Vegas is in the middle of a NO WHERE DESERT, no water, no food near by and increased transportation costs. Cash in your chips and walk away, is my recommendation.

Company is added a new casino in Atlantic City, also they get 50% of the Borgorta profits. With summer coming
up the Casino's will do very well, especially MGM which as casino in NV, NJ, MS, MI, Maccu. I feel the stock can
reach high again in 90-100.

MGM is invested in a 9 billion dollar project which is under construction as we speak in Las Vegas. They are building a property that will have a hotel and casino along with shopping center and residential area. I look for this stock to go up over the next year or so.

I worked for Kirk Kirkorian twice and Steve Wynn twice, both times in casino management. I can tell you that when MGM bought all of Steve Wynn's properties, MGM inherited just about all the top casino management in Las Vegas. Knowing that MGM is going to be partnering up with Stanley Ho's daughter, means to me that MGM will get the best of the high-end Chinese market, when their two casinos are built. This stock will outperform both Las Vegas Sands and Wynn.

The graphs of the gaming leaders are too similar; rising too high too fast. mgm, in particular has a pe ratio that should give one pause; however, it is respectable when compared to that of high-flying LVS. I admit, things are happening in a big way, but something has to give--some would call it "profit taking", some would call it a well-deserved "correction", but a slump, I believe, is due.

I looked for the worst companies in the worst industries I could find. Then I sorted those by analyst revisions. The ones where the EPS were still being revised downward, I select to short.

This stock has an enterprise value of 28x its market cap. Las Vegas Valley hosted 3.5MM in May, down 1% from 3 years ago, 35.7% down from a year ago. 52-week low.

I live in Las Vegas, and MGM controls by far the most popular and best-run properties on the Strip. City Center is already being built and will strive to parallel the Time Warner Center in NYC. MGM is so essential to gaming culture that Bellagio poker chips are accepted worldwide in place of a Federal Reserve Note (seriously).

http://stockmarketbeat.com/blog1/2008/03/12/mgm-mgm-mirage-is-building-it-but-will-the-gamblers-come/
At an enterprise value of 3.8 times 2007 revenue and 21 times 2007 income from continuing operations, MGM looks about as fully valued as one can imagine. The acquisition of Harrah’s, which recently closed after a year-long process, valued that company at 2.6 times 2007 revenue, and 17 times 2007 operating income. And that deal was launched at the height of the private equity boom. It seems wishful thinking to expect a similar valuation in today’s environment.

So I am not optimistic that the 1998 thesis will pan out this time. But while I would sell any existing long position and sit on the sidelines (at least until CityCenter opens), I don’t have the guts to short this name. Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corporation has the resources to continue funding the developments and possibly to take on a larger ownership stake. Bringing on joint venture partners to co-finance the project has also become a key strategy, with deep-pocketed Dubai World being more than capable of taking up any slack. In fact, taking on Dubai World as a joint venture partner on CityCenter resulted in a $1 billion gain on the investments made to date.

New casino coming

HET may have a better rewards program, but you can bet MGM is going to catch up - they still have the best stable of properties in vegas and CityCenter will be the next revolution in revenue in the US market - Singapore loss hurt them, but Macau will be a strong play

Sucker rally soon will be over.

As the US fights a recession, the dollar falls against other currencies and terrorism is still a threat throughout the world, people in the US tend to vacation close to home. This should benefit MGM.

THIS ONE SHOULD DO WELL. THEY ARE OPENING A NEW CASINO AT FOXWOODS IN CONNECTICUT IN THE NEXT 2 MONTHS.

bankruptcy candidate

When the boom is back the first thing people want to do is blow the money they've got. It's like Mardi gras in reverse. While Casino operations tend to over extended themselves I think MGM is well poised. They're betting on Americans to return to business as usual and life on credit. And I'm with them.

Industry always bounces back from recession. Strong well established company. Debt to Equity ratio very poor. Company seems to be addressing this. Company has cashflow to prevent chapter 11.