Friday, April 1, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.
Maria Bartiromo works every day in a place that's filled with excitement and risk-taking.
Earlier this week, she got to play in a place just like it.
"I really do like Las Vegas," said Bartiromo, arguably the most recognizable female business journalist covering Wall Street. "There's such an energy here."
Bartiromo has made two quick trips to Las Vegas in the past month, attending the National Association of Television Programming Executives convention in March and, this week, moderating a panel for the 13th annual Louis Rukeyser Investment Conference.
"I'm not a big gambler, but I did spend a little time at the blackjack table," she said in an interview following her panel at the Rukeyser conference. "Like just about everybody else, I'm in awe of the growth that has occurred in this city."
Seeing the city and its teeming gaming industry up close has given the anchor of CNBC's "After Hours with Maria Bartiromo" a better appreciation for the companies that run the casinos. She shares the fascination with Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Inc. -- and like other business journalists, is angling for interviews with their key executives, Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.
She even drew a few parallels between the activity she observes daily on Wall Street and what she has seen in her brief stops in Las Vegas.
"While I wouldn't want to characterize investing as gambling, there is a certain amount of risk to investing," she said.
And it's the risk investors put on the line for casino companies that gives some Wall Streeters discomfort with the gaming industry, she said. They observed the damage that 9/11 did to the tourism industry and have built perceptions that resorts could be vulnerable to terrorists.
There's also skepticism about whether the city can continue to fill the rooms that it is building and when the industry will reach capacity.
But Bartiromo sees risk-takers up close every day.
In addition to "After Hours" (formerly known as "Market Week"), Bartiromo serves as daily anchor for the first hour of CNBC's "Closing Bell" and she covers breaking news from CNBC's New York Stock Exchange bureau during "Squawk Box." She also has live dispatches for CNBC, CNBC Asia and CNBC Europe and broadcasts segments for "Today in Chicago" and "Today in L.A."
Her daily broadcasts were the first ever from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, a distinction she is proud of.
The worldwide following has created a legion of viewers who have developed fan Web sites on the Internet and have nicknamed her "the Money Honey." She admits that she enjoys the glamour of television, even though she has branched out into the print media with columns for Individual Investor and Ticker magazines and her most recent assignment as a columnist for Readers Digest, a publication with 40 million readers.
She also wrote her first book, "Use the News: How to Separate the Noise from the Investment Nuggets and Make Money in Any Economy," a New York Times bestseller that was published in June 2001 by Harper Collins.
Her familiarity with business issues led to the invitation to the three-day Rukeyser event, which wrapped up Thursday at the MGM Grand. There, she moderated a Wednesday panel that featured Mario Gabelli, chief executive for Gabelli Asset Management, Mike Holland, president of Holland & Co., Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist for Charles Schwab, and Richard Bernstein, chief U.S. strategist for Merrill Lynch.
Bartiromo's assessment of the economy after the conference: "We are truly in a golden era for investors," she said.
Companies that have been sitting on the sideline in the post-9/11 era are stepping up their investments, she said. In the wake of Securities and Exchange Commission crackdowns on shady executives, the strong, law-abiding companies are coming forth with stock buybacks and dividend payments.
It was a message that played well with the Las Vegas crowd.
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