At least two research houses have upgraded their rating on Resorts World Bhd (4715), the casino operator that reported a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday.

JPMorgan raised the stock to "overweight" from "neutral", saying the company's casino will benefit as Malaysians reduce overseas travel in the current recession.

OSK Research also upgraded it to a "trading buy" but maintained its target price of RM2.50.

The shares fell two sen or 0.9 per cent to a three-week low of RM2.22, a day after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of RM387.8 million compared with a net profit of RM344 million in the same quarter a year ago.

This was mainly due to a RM781.5 million impairment loss that reflected a big drop in the market value of Star Cruises Ltd, in which it has a 19.6 per cent stake.
If not for the impairment loss, its net profit would have increased by 14 per cent as its underlying leisure and hospitality business remained strong.

Citigroup, which kept its buy/low-risk call on Resorts, said the results were boosted by higher casino patronage, better luck factor in the premium player business and higher volume of business recorded.

Credit Suisse, however, held on to its "underperform" rating on Resorts on expectations of a 5 per cent drop in leisure revenues this year due to "normalised luck" and weaker economic conditions.

It expects the first quarter, however, to be good as it encompasses the Chinese New Year, which is a typically strong season for Resorts.

The foreign research house cut its target price to RM1.65 from RM1.80 before.

Analysts, in their reports yesterday, said they remained wary of potential future related-party transactions that could take place.

This, they said, may not not sit well with investors of Resorts, which has a 33 per cent foreign shareholding.

They noted that a controversial related-party transaction announced in late November - in which Resorts bought a 10 per cent stake in US gaming patent company Walker Digital Gaming (WDG) for US$69 million (RM253 million) - had a negative impact on Resorts' shares. The deal was completed by mid-December as it didn't require shareholder of regulatory approval.

(Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, a major shareholder of Genting Bhd which in turn owns Resorts, was also a director in WDG.)

Analysts noted that there is an outstanding option for Resorts to acquire a lottery patent company, Walker Digital Lottery, from the Lim family for US$27 million (RM99 million) within 18 months of the first transaction.

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM...icle/index_html

i wanted to know something..

which rating is better..

OUTPERFORM or TRADING BUY?

Resort still a buy call from fund managers!!!

Resort’s 4QFY08 net profit was dragged down by RM781.5m in marked to market impairment loss on the carrying value of its 19.6% stake in Star Cruises. Adjusting
for the various one offs, which includes RM418.0m in exceptional gains in FY07, full
year FY08 core profit was up 22.7% y-o-y, while revenue grew 12.3% y-o-y. Despite
the challenging economic environment, 4QFY08 revenue and core operating profit
expanded 16.4% and 9.4% y-o-y respectively. Significantly lower price points and a
large domestic day tripper casino customer base helped to underpin its earnings
defensiveness. Current valuations, excluding its net cash balance of roughly 79
sen per share indicates an implied PER of 5.9x, which is well below its trough
valuation of 11x PER last recorded in 2003 (during the SARS outbreak). We are upgrading recommendation to Trading BUY with an unchanged TP of RM2.50 (30% discount to RM3.55 RNAV) but remain cautious of the dampening effect of potential future related party transactions.

more http://bursastreet.blogspot.com/2009/02/resorts.html

Yup, they will revised it to SELL when the price hit 1.50 . I have seen a few reports like this b4. Dunno can be trusted or not 1. When the price are 1.00 BUY, but when drop to 0.50 become SELL within a month or two only. Like that i also can write a recommendation

This post has been edited by Singh_Kalan: Feb 27 2009, 10:09 PM

With all these good ratings.. Resorts dropped 10 sen today to 2.110 - the lowest price ever.

Means more room to fall..breaking the support level

Did you get any ?

Was about to press the button but decided not yet. Will monitor this counter.

The CH looks yummy too.

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Added on March 3, 2009, 12:00 pmResorts dropped to 2.030 this morning but managed to climb back 9 sen to 2.120.

Come on Resorts.. your TP is 2.5 not 2.1. You can do it.

This post has been edited by Freelancer: Mar 3 2009, 12:01 PM

casino in sentosa will not be a catapult for resort/genting share, dont be surprise bcos opening of the casino have not earn $$ yet for the casino and the group and to recover back the initial capital is still along way more.

must take into the pros and cons of the factor and the economic crisis

whereas SAND CASINO will open first in end of 2009 and further more only partial of the casino in sentosa is open. will only open phase by phase.

Very huge competitor around. SANDS

to be careful if the construction speedup worried about the safety of the building etc and dont know whether is quality and safety is there.

and Genting HIGHLAND will be less visitors to its casino. Have to apportion the visitor. gamblers will too be cut into half especially singaporean. nearer to their home.

the results maybe good nor bad

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Added on March 4, 2009, 12:52 pmresort share market price is Rm2.00 * 5 before spilting is Rm10k.

whereas for genting shares price is rm3.30 * 5 before spilting is Rm16.5k

still both shares consider high from its previous low runup price.

yr high for resort is RM4.5k
yr high for genting is Rm10k

the percentage of genting price have drop more than resorts price.

This post has been edited by lowyat888: Mar 4 2009, 12:52 PM

support at 1.80

Maybe it's just me but I don't think Singapore resort would be as successful as Genting. So I don't think it would take away as many tourist away from Genting. Singaporeans will feel the resort in Singapore will be too expensive and will still go to Genting for a holiday. Only real gamblers will play in the casino but they won't stay there and won't spend there other than the casino. (Casino free food)

Unlike Singapore, Genting is a holiday destination not because people can gamble there but because of the cold weather. The gambling is just a bonus. Its an escape for many Malaysians and Singaporeans used to hot weather. Sentosa only has the beach, I think that's about it and it's still hot weather.

This post has been edited by skiddtrader: Mar 5 2009, 11:04 PM

Due to the reported loss in the recent financials (mainly due to the impairment loss), the price has been on the downward trend as some people panicked and unload their shares. During this time is also good opportunity for certain people to push the price down while accumulating the units at the lowest possible prices (notice the huge sell/buy volume). Once the heat has subsided, then I believe Resorts will be on the upward trend again.

Just my $0.02.

This post has been edited by Freelancer: Mar 5 2009, 11:16 PM

well agree on skidd .. dont think the new casino here will greater than genting
but will also think the price will go up when the selling pressure/pressing down the price is completed
accumulating at current price i believe is good .. just my2cents

Wow.. Resorts broke and reached 2.000 today.

What will happen next week?

waiting below 2 lo haha

My queue at 2.000 didn't match. Not sure whether good or loss opportunity.

RESORT- JP Morgan keeps OVERWEIGHT with a target price of RM3.20.

___________________________________________________

Bought @ 2.02 today

Personally think is oversold recently....

i believe will keep on dropping.

Nah. Resorts dropped too much already.

Based on the huge stronghold at 2.000 and purchases at the last deal at 2.010, I believe it will go up next week.

Hopefully.

Even go up, it won't be sustainable, just a standard rebound before more downside.