Macau Might Finally Be Headed In The Right Direction

The two-year revenue decline in Macau is looking more and more like a bygone era.

The latest data from the Macao Gaming and Coordination Bureau reveals that Macau brought in 22.9 billion patacas in February, up 17.8 percent year over year. Prior to last August's 1.1 percent gain, Macau had registered 26 consecutive year-over-year monthly revenue declines.

The February Macau revenue number topped analyst estimates of 21.5 billion patacas. Macau recorded 3.1 percent revenue growth in January.

Shares of resort operators Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) MPEL, Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS, MGM Resorts International MGM and Wynn Resorts, Limited WYNN were all up 2-4 percent in Wednesday’s pre-market session.

With seven consecutive months of positive growth in the books and weak comps ahead in early 2017, Macau finally seems to be headed in the right direction once again.

February 2015 marked the "high point" for gaming revenue declines during the downturn at -48.6 percent. June 2016’s GGR of only 15.8 billion patacas represented the monthly low for revenue during the downturn and was the lowest monthly total Macau had recorded since September 2010.

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In addition to the 17.8 percent growth in Macau’s market in January, Las Vegas also delivered monthly data this week. Taxable revenue from the Las Vegas Strip was down 7.1 percent in January after finishing out 2016 at +2.1 percent on the year. Historic Downtown Las Vegas logged an impressive +22.0 percent growth to start 2017.

Disclosure: The author is long MPEL.