Why Are Traders Piling Into These 5 Stocks Thursday?

Casino Stocks Spike on Macau Strength

Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) are up by 5%, 5%, and 7% respectively, after new data showed that aggregate gambling revenue in Macau rose by 1.1% for the month of August. Analysts were expecting a 1.5% decline instead. The rise in Macau gambling revenue for the month of August is the first monthly year-over-year rise for the region in around two years. Gambling revenue in Macau has fallen substantially since 2014 due to China’s crackdown on corruption, which has sharply curtailed high-margin VIP activity in many Macau casinos. Given today’s numbers, bullish investors hope August’s results will mark a turning point in terms of demand.

Of the 750 hedge funds in our system that filed 13F’s for the June 30 reporting period, the smart money liked Wynn the most, with 30 of them reporting long positions in the stock as of the end of June. In second place was Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), with 23 funds being long the stock, while Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) brought up the rear, with the stock being in the portfolios of 16 hedge funds in our database.

Disclosure: None