Wynn Resorts reverses quarterly loss

Wynn Resorts Ltd. said Thursday that it reversed a quarterly loss, reporting net income of $75.2 million in the first quarter compared with a loss of $44.6 million in the first quarter of last year.

The company, which operates Wynn Las Vegas and Encore on the Strip in Las Vegas and is developing a new resort near Boston, said weakness in Macau continued to sap net revenues. Net revenues for the first quarter were $997.7 million, compared to $1.09 billion in the first quarter of 2015, about a 9 percent slide, company officials said in a statement.

The company attributed the net revenue drop to a 13.8 percent decrease from Macau operations that was partially offset by a 0.7 percent increase from business in Las Vegas.

The earnings translated to a gain of 74 cents per diluted share in the first quarter compared with a net loss of 44 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015, officials said.

The earnings were announced after the stock market closed.

Adjusted net income in the first quarter was $108.8 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $70.5 million, or 70 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2015. In the statement, company officials said the quarterly results reflect an out-of-period adjustment related to capitalized interest that reduced interest expense by $25.6 million, increasing net income and adjusted net income by $18.5 million and diluted net income and adjusted net income of 18 cents per common share.

Company officials also announced a cash dividend of 50 cents per share payable on May 26 to stockholders of record on May 17.

In Macau, table drop in the mass market segment was $1.21 billion in the first quarter of 2016, down 5.6 percent from the 2015 first quarter. Table games win in the mass market segment fell by 11.5 percent to $247.5 million in the first quarter of 2016. The mass market table games win percentage of 20.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016 was below the 21.8 percent experienced in the first quarter of 2015, officials said.

But Macau players showed more willingness to play slots. The slot machine handle for the first quarter of 2016 increased 5.5 percent from the 2015 period to $1.10 billion, and slot win increased by 5.6 percent to $50.4 million.

In Las Vegas, the table games drop of $475.2 million was down 17.2 percent from $573.6 million in the 2015 quarter. Table games win fell 7.8 percent to $125 million in the first quarter of 2016. But table games win percentage was 26.3 percent, above expectation.

The slot machine handle of $717.5 million was 5.9 percent below the $762.2 million in the comparable period of 2015, and slot win was up 2.4 percent to $49.6 million.

The earnings report seemed to impress investors. Shares of Wynn rose in after-hours trade nearly 2 percent at one point. During regular trade, they fell $1.16 or 1.76 percent to $89.62.