Las Vegas Sands' (LVS -0.12%) stock was a standout overperformer on Thursday, even though the company's Q1 of fiscal 2020 headline numbers fell well short of analyst estimates.
Reporting those results on Wednesday, the big casino resort operator revealed that it suffered a precipitous drop in net revenue on a year-over-year basis of 51%, to $1.78 billion. The reason, naturally, is the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, which has pounded the company, so heavily dependent on tourism.
Las Vegas Sands' bottom line was also badly affected. It posted a non-GAAP (adjusted) net loss of $21 million, or $0.03 per share, for this latest quarter. That was in sharp contrast to the $708 million profit it netted in the same period of 2019.
Image source: Las Vegas Sands.
On average, analysts had been forecasting a $0.05 per-share adjusted net profit and net revenue of $2.03 billion.
Although those numbers were deeply concerning, CEO Sheldon Adelson, in the conference call discussing them, sounded a very optimistic note about the company's operations in Asia -- from where it derives the bulk of its revenue, despite the company name. Adelson said:
We think the recovery there is going to be back to gambling, back to visitation, [and] will come rather quickly. We feel pretty confident we'll be back to a much better place this summer, and then a much better place in the fall. And we have seen evidence of pent-up demand like crazy from our customers who were asking when, and we talked [with] them pretty regularly.
This was obviously music to the market's ears. On Thursday, Las Vegas Sands' shares zoomed 12% higher, significantly outpacing the flat performance of the main equity indexes and many consumer goods stocks.
