Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (MPEL) Up On China Easing Macau Restrictions: Have Hedge Funds Anticipated This Development?

What have hedge funds been doing with Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL)?

When looking at the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro‘s PAR Capital Management had the largest position in Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) at the end of March, with 4.77 million shares, worth close to $102.4 million, amounting to 2.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Omega Advisors, managed by Leon Cooperman, which held 2.66 million shares $57.1 million position. Some other funds that hold long positions include Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, Brett Barakett’s Tremblant Capital and Terence Hogan’s Addison Clark Management.

Seeing as Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, there is a number of funds who sold their entire positions during the first three months of 2015. Interestingly, John Khoury‘s Long Pond Capital closed the largest stake, comprised of 2.02 million shares, while Ricky Sandler’s fund, Eminence Capital, disposed of 1.97 million shares held previously.

China relaxing its restrictions on its citizens’ travel to Macau may be good news for Melco Crown Entertainment, but the decline of the gaming industry in that region has been going on for a while. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether the increase of days mainland Chinese citizens are allowed to stay in Macau will be enough to turn the tides for casino operators. Given the long-standing decline of the stock, even considering this latest news, we must conclude that it appears Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) is not a sure bet at the moment.

Disclosure: None