Dueling Fools: Station Casinos vs. Boyd Gaming (BYD, STN)

Dueling Fools: Station Casinos vs. Boyd Gaming

Station Casinos (NYSE: STN ) and Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD ) are the two biggest players in the fast-growing Las Vegas locals market. They tend to keep a lower profile than larger strip operators MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM ) and Harrah's (NYSE: HET ) , but each offers a unique opportunity for investors.

Fool gaming analysts Jeff Hwang and Nathan Slaughter are squaring off to determine which company is the better bargain. Jeff will present his case for Station Casinos, and Nathan will serve up a case for Boyd. As you'll see, neither analyst is very bearish on the other's company. The point of this duel is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Boyd and Station and make us better investors in the process.

Here's the tale of the tape, brought to you by Standard and Poor's Capital IQ. Station has a slightly bigger market cap, while Boyd has a more diverse set of properties. Numbers are in millions.

Metric	Station Casinos	Boyd Gaming
Market Cap	4,768	4,101
TTM Revenue	1,265	2,278
TTM Operating Income	316	364
Key Properties	Red Rock Station, Green Valley Ranch, Sunset Station	Borgata, Suncoast, The Orleans, Blue Chip, Sam's Town Las Vegas
Locations	Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Midwest, South

Duel on, Fools!

Fool gaming editor Joey Khattab does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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