Earnings Preview: Las Vegas Sands

Leading global gaming company Las Vegas Sands LVS is set to release its fiscal first-quarter earnings results on Wednesday after the closing bell. Going into the print, Wall Street analysts have consensus EPS estimates of $0.59. The high estimate for the company is $0.69 with a low estimate of $0.51. In the year ago quarter, LVS reported EPS of $0.37. Judging from estimates taken from Estimize.com, traders are looking for upside to Street consensus with users projecting that LVS will report first quarter EPS of $0.60., or a penny of above the Street. Estimize is a unique new tool which allows traders and investors to get a better idea of what the "whisper number," or real earnings expectations are for a company. The site does this by aggregating estimates from its users and generating a consensus EPS estimate based on this data. Frequently, the "whisper number" is a better gauge of likely sentiment after the earnings numbers are released compared to Wall Street estimates which have a tendency to be on the conservative side. It is not uncommon to see a stock trade off sharply despite beating Street estimates if the numbers come up short of the whisper estimates. Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates for LVS have risen from $0.56 to the current consensus of $0.59. During this time period, shares have risen just over 18%, riding a strong market rally. On the revenue front, Wall Street analysts have consensus estimates of $2.59 billion. The high estimate is $2.81 billion with a low estimate of $2.46 billion. This compares to year ago sales of $2.11 billion, implying year over year sales growth of 22.60%. Users at Estimize.com have provided estimates in a range between $2.47 billion on the low end and $2.65 billion on the high end. On Monday, LVS shares have lost 2.07% to $56.72 as traders and investors position themselves ahead of Wednesday's key report.