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StumbleWynn Resorts gets double dose of good publicity
Sunday, March 8, 2009 | 2:36 p.m.
Wynn Resorts received a double serving of positive national publicity this weekend, landing on Barron's list of 10 good stocks to hold for the long haul and ranking highest among gaming companies on Fortune's list of the world's most admired companies.
Despite concerns that its stock price has tumbled along with other gaming companies in the past year because of the recession, the weekly newspaper Barron's said Wynn's cash on hand of $1.1 billion gives it some "real breathing room'' to handle its debt load of $4.3 billion.
"I continue to believe that people are going to want entertainment, assuming the darkness lifts. And that is our assumption -- that the world will go on," Wintergreen Fund portfolio fund manager David Winters told Barron's. He says Wynn's properties, including Wynn Las Vegas, Encore at Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Macau, are the best of their kind.
The company, led by resort veteran Steve Wynn, has received strong reviews for its newly opened $2.3 billion, 2,034-suite Encore on the Las Vegas Strip and is now spending $700 million to construct the 704-room Encore at Wynn Macau at Wynn's casino property in the Chinese region of Macau.
Separately, Fortune published its list of the world's 50 most admired companies and the only hotel company on the list was Marriott International. Marriott has numerous hotel and timeshare properties in the Las Vegas area under several brands: Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill and TownePlace.
In the hotels, casinos and resorts industry, Wyndham Worldwide was ranked No. 2. It's also a big player in Las Vegas with hotel brands such as Wingate, Howard Johnson, Super 8, Travelodge and its Grand Desert timeshare resort.
Wynn Resorts was ranked No. 3 on that list, with Starwood Hotels & Resorts at No. 4. Listed as "contenders'' for the list were No. 5 MGM Mirage, No. 6 Harrah's Entertainment, No. 7 Las Vegas Sands and No. 8 Penn National Gaming.
The list, based on interviews with business people, is a positive for Wynn as it was not listed last year. Wynn this year was ranked No. 2 among hotels, casinos and resorts for innovation and the quality of its products and services.
The list represented a setback for MGM Mirage, which was ranked No. 3 last year but has seen its finances deteriorate because of the recession, its debt load and continued need to finance its massive CityCenter project on the Strip.
Other big players in the Las Vegas economy on Fortune's overall most-admired Top 50 list are Southwest Airlines, the No. 1 carrier at McCarran International Airport, tied for No. 7; Wells Fargo, No. 14; and Bank of America at No. 26.
On the industry lists, UnitedHealth Group, a big insurer in Las Vegas, was ranked No. 3 in its industry. Among hospital operators, HCA, owner of the Sunrise hospitals in Las Vegas, was ranked No. 4 while Valley Health System owner Universal Health Services came in at No. 6.
The most-admired homebuilders, in order, are KB Home, Toll Brothers, Centex and Pulte Homes. Among real estate companies, Simon Property Group is ranked No. 2. It owns the Forum Shops at Caesars as well as the Las Vegas Outlet Center and the Las Vegas Premium Outlets.
Among grocery and drugstore operators, the most admired with local operations are No. 1 Tesco (Fresh & Easy), No. 3 Safeway (Vons), No. 4 CVS/Caremark, No. 5 Kroger (Smith's Food & Drug) and No. 6 Walgreen. Among general merchandisers, the most admired, in order, are Wal-Mart, Target, Nordstrom, JCPenney and Kohl's.
Steve Green can be reached at 990-7714 or steve.green@hbcpub.com.
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Lets do a study and find out how many companies have gone bankrupt that Barrons likes. There are many.
The thought of losing all your money on the "tight" machines in Vegas has lost its allure.
This city needs something new. Steve came up with a great idea in the late 80s with the themed resort, but its time to figure out whats next.
Watching aging rockers and ballad singers lip-synch on stage is not the answer either.
I strongly vote for legal prostitution and casinos themed and stuffed with massage parlors, just like in Macao. Since the "dark business" is being executed within the city boundries anyway, and the authorities knowing about without any doubt (just check with all the Mexicans distributing these fliers advertising the super-expensive "entertainers"), it is obvious that these fliers have a purpose, and...2ndly, that the meaning of "entertainer" is also clear. Cut and dry: The blindness of the authorities has to change into open mindness and legalisation of that business would help the city to become what it once used to be: A great city of Entertainment.
From Switzerland, where prostitution is legal and works.
Given the horrific reality of the gaming industry, the choice of Wynn as a good stock is a byproduct of Barron's new LSD experiment.
What ever Barron's says-do the opposite. There track record is just as bad as Jim Cramers.
Wynn is among the worst when it comes to abusing patron rights, invasion of patron privacy, and total intolerance of patrons using their brains on its premises. The folks who "admire" this horrible enterprise are people who do not understand how it really works.
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Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com
THE NEXT BIG THING IN VEGAS NEEDS TO BE GETTING BACK TO CLASS... THE RAT PACK DAYS ... A NIGHTLY SHOW LIKE LENO FILMED HERE... WE NEED TO ALSO EXPLOIT THE YUCCA SITE AND GREEN ENERGY... GIVING TOURSITS WORLD CLASS FACILITES AT LAKE MEAD AND MT CHARLESTON WOULDNT HURT EITHER... MAKE AN AMUSEMENT PARK OR WATER PARK
TOURISTS AND LOCALS ALIKE NEED SOMETHIGN TO SPEND THEIR MONEY ON OTHER THEN CASINOS
AND THE CASINO SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN MT CHARLESTON AND LAKE MEAD BUT WITHOUT GAMING THEY ARE IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY THEY CAN MAKE MONEY ON OTHER WAYS THAN GAMBLING...THESE COMPANIES SHOULD BE RECREATION COMPANIES NOT JUST CASINOS
Brothel-themed casino's/massage parlors - hmmmm well might be something the men would feel comfortable in patronizing but I don't think too many women would feel comfortable in that type of themed atmosphere - thus the casino's might wind up cutting their customer base in half rather than see it increase. I would rather sit in a gas station and play vp than to sit in a brothel-casino - it's enough that all the servers are already falling out of their costumes and I've yet to have a good looking hunky guy serve me a drink...........
What, Station casinos is no longer on the list of Best Companies To Work For?