In a prior post, I examined the poor stock price performance of gaming stocks in the late 1990s. Similar to now, same store sales declined dramatically but unlike now, total market revenue continued to expand. Another difference between then and now is leverage. Leverage ratios remain at all time highs (see chart #1) and certainly are contributing to all-time low valuations.
  • With a global credit and liquidity crisis, it’s no surprise that one of the most leveraged sectors has grossly underperformed. Strangely, the valuation variance across the gaming sector is low. BYD and PENN own the liquidity in the industry, yet trade roughly in-line with the group. PENN runs at least 3 turns below the average gaming leverage ratio and BYD, while at average leverage, should be able to de-lever faster than the rest.
  • The opportunity is glaring. The companies that risk managed their liquidity and balance sheets smartly (BYD and PENN) are lumped in with the rest because they are gaming stocks. As can be seen in the second chart, PENN barely outperformed the group this year and BYD underperformed. Strange that the factor that has caused gaming to underperform the market so sharply wouldn’t also drive relative value. That’s not sustainable.
Gaming leverage ratios remain at all-time highs
Despite higher liquidity, BYD and PENN lumped in with the rest of the sector