What: Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN -1.78%) was one of the few winners on Wall Street today, climbing 14% in late trading after issuing preliminary fourth-quarter earnings.
So what: Management said that last quarter's revenue in Macau would be $552 million to $560 million and EBITDA would be $156 million to $164 million. For reference, third-quarter revenue in Macau was $585.1 million and EBITDA was $162.8 million.
In Las Vegas, revenue is expected to be $387 million to $395 million and EBITDA should be $123 million to $131 million. A quarter earlier, revenue was $411.2 million and EBITDA was $117.1 million.
Now what: There's obviously not a lot of growth for Wynn Resorts, but management wanted to assure the market that operations weren't still in a nosedive. Macau's gaming revenue plunged 34% in 2015, though there appeared to be some stability in the market in the second half of the year. That would be good for Wynn Resorts, which is opening Wynn Palace in the middle of 2016.
A long-term recovery in shares will require a successful opening of Wynn Palace and even a small amount of growth in Macau. For now, investors are excited about the fact that operations weren't getting significantly worse as the calendar turned to 2016. That's the real reason shares popped today.
