Willis Parsons of Galaxy Gaming Inc. cleans off a table during setup for the Global Gaming Expo at the Sands Convention Center on Monday, Oct. 3, 2011.
Biggest gainer: Caesars Entertainment
Stocks of Las Vegas-based companies rose nearly across the board during this holiday week as the broader stock market turned in its best weekly performance since June. Traders were encouraged by positive economic news from China and Europe and appeared to be enthusiastic about the start of the holiday shopping season, with Wal-Mart reporting its best-ever Black Friday sales. Overall, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced this week 3.6 percent from its Nov. 16 close.
Gaming companies MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd., Boyd Gaming Corp., Tropicana Entertainment Inc., IGT, Bally Technologies Inc. and SHFL entertainment Inc. all posted increases. Nongaming companies seeing their stocks rise included Allegiant Travel Co., NV Energy and Southwest Gas Corp. The biggest gainer locally was Caesars Entertainment Corp., which finished at $5.67, 17.6 percent above its Nov. 16 close. Investors this week appeared to be pleased that the company has hired a CFO and has finalized financing for its renovation of Bill's Gamblin' Hall on the Strip.
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Biggest decliner: Galaxy Gaming
The thinly traded casino supplier fell 2 cents to close at 20 cents, down 9 percent from its Nov. 16 close. Given the lack of news about Galaxy since it reported earnings Nov. 13, some profit-taking may have been behind this week's decline.