[ET Net News Agency, 18 February 2021] Morgan Stanley said the Macau gaming industry's
daily GGR (gross gaming revenue) for the first 4 days of 2021 Chinese New Year (CNY)
tracked around MOP188mn, which is 25% and 70% lower than October Golden Week and CNY in
2020, respectively.
The research house noted that visitation to Macau was weaker than expected during CNY as
Chinese were discouraged to travel during CNY to contain rising COVID cases in January.
Morgan said the good news include: (1) spending per capita is still up; (2) optimism is
about reopening, as vaccine rolls out and new cases decline; (3) around 10K persons booked
for vaccination in Macau, of which 4.3K are priority personnel (frontline workers, civil
servants) and 5.7K are general public; and (4) on 2022, stocks are still cheap, and Morgan
expects license extension sometime in 2021.
It said the gaming stocks are trading at 10.9x 2022 EV/EBITDA, lower than the long-term
average of 12.5x. Galaxy (00027), Wynn Macau (01128), and SJM (00880) have outperformed
year-to-date, and Morgan expects that to continue. (KL)