KEY POINTS:
Las Vegas Sands, the world's largest casino company by market value, said profit rose 3.3 per cent on revenue growth at its Macau and Las Vegas properties.
Net income rose to US$113.6 million ($166 million) or US32c a share, the Las Vegas-based company said.
Revenue climbed 27 per cent to US$636.3 million.
Revenue increased 27 per cent to US$343.3 million at the Sands Macao, while the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, its flagship Las Vegas property, had its most profitable quarter ever.
Billionaire chief executive Sheldon Adelson said additional competition in Macau, the largest gambling market in the world, was not affecting Las Vegas Sands' operations there.
Las Vegas Sands had "first-mover advantage, and there's enough growth for everyone to benefit", said Charles Norton, a portfolio manager for GNI Capital's Vice Fund. The fund has shares of the company among its US$70 million in assets.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell 1.3 per cent to US$102.79 after the results were released. The company this year will open the first phase of a 20,000-room project on Macau's Cotai Strip, and an addition in Las Vegas.
"The Cotai Strip has to work, and we've made a large bet that the great management team at Sands will be able to execute," said Jordon Laycob, a portfolio manager for Marsico Capital in Denver which owns 6.6 per cent of Las Vegas Sands shares.
Marsico is the company's second-biggest shareholder behind Adelson, who owns about 70 per cent of the stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Excluding expenses including pre-opening and development costs, Sands said it earned US37c a share.
The average fourth-quarter estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was US32c on revenue of US$565.1 million.
The growth of Las Vegas Sands has helped make Adelson, 73, the third-richest man in the US, according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of US$20.5 billion.
- BLOOMBERG
