[h=1]Eldorado Resorts: Beat The House With This Casino Stock[/h]Mar. 2, 2016 10:37 AM ET|
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Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (ERI)by: Jonathon Ferreira
Jonathon Ferreira ⊕Follow (3 followers)
Closed-end funds, macro, arbitrage, long/short equity
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[h=2]Summary[/h]Diversified portfolio of casinos, with seven properties in five states.
Implementation of $10 million cost savings plan, and $35 million savings from debt refinancing.
Strong cash flow statement, and consistent year-over-year revenue growth.
Casino stocks have been all the rage lately, with stocks like Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:
WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:
LVS) up 19.97% and 10.13%, respectively, year to date. But, if you only focus on the big name stocks, you may miss out on stocks like Eldorado Resorts (NASDAQ:
ERI).
ERI data by YCharts
Eldorado Resorts is a relatively new public company, having issued its IPO only two years ago. The stock had strong results in 2015, producing a gain of 118.02% for the year. Let's take a look at the fundamentals to see if it can repeat last year's performance:
[h=2]Industry Overview:[/h]
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The US casino industry has been growing steadily over the past few years and is expected to continue doing so into 2020. This growth, however, is a far cry from the double-digit growth of the past, which means that the industry will continue to become extremely competitive.
Some of the headwinds facing casinos are:
- Increased competition from state lotteries, which are focused on developing and increasing online lottery programs.
- Increasing costs of updating technology and developing new games in order to help draw in more millennials.
- US federal and state agencies increasing anti-laundering policies and programs.
- Growing number of states increasing legalization, which further increases competition in an already crowded market.
[h=2]Company Overview:[/h]Eldorado Resorts owns and operates gaming facilities in several states, conducting its operations through its subsidiaries: MTR Gaming Group, Eldorado Holdco LLC, and Eldorado Resorts LLC. Its combined properties have a total of approximately 10,220 slot machines, 300 table games, 4,850 hotel rooms, 35 dining/entertainment options, and 3 racing facilities.
It currently operate seven casinos in five states across the US. Each casino contains an average of 1,450 slot machines and 51 table games. The spread of casinos across the United States helps to stabilize taxes, regulatory issues, and income, with no one casino accounting for more than 31% of EBITDA.
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It is currently spending over $10 million on renovating its properties. This property improvement program should help to draw in more millennial gamblers, who demand the latest and greatest technology and updated facilities.
[h=2]Management:[/h]Eldorado Resorts' management team is highly experienced, currently having an average of +30 years of industry experience. They have been able to identify and execute a $10 million cost savings plan, which started in the second quarter of 2015, and $5 million of which will be saved in the first two quarters of 2016.
[h=2]Financials:[/h]
- Net operating revenues increased 169.9% for the nine months prior to the end of Q3 2015.
- Casino expenses, excluding MTR gaming which incurred $65 million in expenses in Q3 of 2015 (a 161.3% increase compared to the same period of the prior year), decreased by 5.3% during this quarter.
- Strong cash flow, increasing by approximately $35 million due to savings from interest refinancing.
ERI Operating Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts
- With a current ratio of 1.28, Eldorado Resorts has enough cash and current assets on hand to pay down all of its short-term debt.
ERI Total Current Assets (Quarterly) data by YCharts
[h=2]Future Events:[/h]
- $5 million of cost savings go into effect in the first two quarters of 2016.
- Increasing property renovation will continue to help draw new customers.
- The USBC has selected the National Bowling Stadium, located near the Eldorado Reno, to hold multi-month bowling tournaments in Reno every year through 2018, except for 2017. This competition is expected to have a noticeable impact on business in Reno, with each competition historically bringing approximately 62,000 bowlers.
[h=2]Competitors & Downside Risk:[/h]
- Native American casinos could potentially hurt markets in Ohio and Reno. Native American casinos in California are stealing customers from the Reno market and could potentially have a large impact if California approves new laws to allow Native Americans to increase casino size.
- Shreveport market faces increased competition if Texas legalizes casino gambling and from Native American casinos in Oklahoma. Competition is also growing locally in Louisiana.
- Increasing pressure in north east markets is forcing Eldorado Resorts to pursue more aggressive advertising and promotional campaigns in order to maintain market share.
[h=2]Conclusion:[/h]With its large and diversified portfolio of properties, experienced management team, and strong financials, Eldorado Resorts looks poised to have another strong year of growth. One potential risk investors should watch out for, though, is the increasing competition of an already crowded market. I believe that Eldorado Resorts, with the help of its experienced management team, will be able to maintain and grow market share, despite the increased competition. For these reasons, I am rating Eldorado Resorts as a buy.
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in ERI over the next 72 hours.
I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3947866-eldorado-resorts-beat-house-casino-stock?page=2