The first quarter results were quite strong. All key assets were drivers.

We would be buying Boyd Gaming shares ahead of the analyst meeting next week given the likely favorable response to South Coast and the pending announcement on the Stardust redevelopment.

Despite the phenomenal growth of Las Vegas, the construction talent pool is not deep enough to provide the needed labor to build all currently announced projects. We believe if all announced and anticipated projects were...

It’s a lucrative acquisition opportunity.

While these estimates could still potentially change, we thought it could be useful to forecast a base case for the impacted casinos, giving investors an idea of the

We believe the state of Mississippi’s dependence on the gaming industry will be an important factor in passage of legislation that is more protective of these two valuable sources of economic vitality.

Overall, we remain impressed with results from the high-end business and expect that the addition of Wynn Las Vegas will help maintain the strong momentum.

It’s difficult to find a lot of negativity toward the group. Clearly, the fundamentals are very strong, and I expect that to continue.

Regardless, we view these results as a sign of continued strong demand and the overall healthiness of (Las Vegas).

I don’t know how they will get these companies to invest millions into these projects unless they are allowed to build them on land. They would not only protect the assets of the casino companies,...

Las Vegas is one of the top destination getaways in North America and a great value compared with the alternatives such as Disney World, New York City and San Francisco.

Conversations with Strip operators indicate that business volumes over New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas were up significantly year over year. Additionally, we believe expectations for the fourth quarter on the whole are low and...

Broadly speaking, there is limited tourism in the French Quarter, as opposed to the population in the suburbs. It’s encouraging for the local economy and I think they’ll do a good business with construction workers.

We believe Shuffle Master can continue to grow earnings per share at 25 percent to 30 percent.

Despite this slow start to the fourth quarter, we believe fundamentals on the Las Vegas Strip remain solid for the balance of the quarter and into 2006 ….

While Harrah’s may have the most exposure in terms of the number of properties and total dollar amount of cash flow in the Gulf region, the impact for the company is not significant as a...

In all likelihood, operators will start getting business interruption insurance in the fourth quarter, which would add upside to our forecasts.

Wynn rates are tracking at a 10 percent to 15 percent premium to the market and are averaging $300-$330 through November.

We believe that Boyd should also benefit from this continued Las Vegas locals growth, so we’re currently projecting 9 percent (third-quarter) revenue growth for its Boulder Strip and Coast properties.

People are still taking the temperature on the strength of the fundamentals in Las Vegas. The stocks had a strong run in the first quarter and expectations are high.

We believe this is likely the first of several projects of similar size and scope, which we anticipate could Include Reno and Durango. We expect Station Casinos to provide a more detailed development outlook on...

They have a clear strategy, a great brand name and top assets, … CDI could surprise some people in the next couple of years.

Overall, it was a pretty good quarter given the concerns that existed at the beginning of the summer. Overall, the summer turned out to be stronger than Wall Street investors had been anticipating.

The opening of Red Rock is a highly anticipated event. We think it will do exceptionally well due to its location and quality.

Following channel checks with the Las Vegas Strip operators over the last two weeks, we remain encouraged that the overall volume of high-end gaming play improved over last year. The MGM-Mirage properties and Caesars Palace...

The bids lower than the $47 offer from Columbia indicate that operators believe licensing could pose a difficulty in that proposal.

We continue to believe the acquisition would make strategic sense for Pinnacle, transforming it from a regional operator to a national casino company with an extensive development pipeline.

As has been anticipated, the property impressed and easily exceeded even our lofty expectations.

The comparisons are getting tougher.

Some fear the machines will serve as a distraction to the fans and deter them from placing pari-mutuel bets. And the results of such machines have been mixed.

All-in, we expected a messy quarter, and results came in slightly above our expectations.

We believe that higher bids could be likely from both Colony and Pinnacle.

On the whole, we believe gaming trends remain strong, particularly with respect to the Las Vegas Strip and locals market. This is supported by April gaming performance as well as our proprietary room rate survey,...

I think every major casino company wants to get into online gaming but without access to the U.S. market it becomes a costly venture.

I have a hard time believing they would turn away if the project were to come in at, say $1.3 billion.

Investors may be caught a little bit off guard by the price tag.

Plus, Las Vegas will be the beneficiary of displaced convention business (from New Orleans), which will help stimulate demand.

This offering is not a complete surprise, reducing insider ownership and improving the liquidity of the stock. However, we find the timing of the sale interesting, ahead of the opening of Wynn Macau in the...

Is it just a spigot you turn on, the people are waiting and just turn up? It’s difficult to say.

We continue to like Shuffle Master’s longer-term outlook and remain comfortable with the company’s business model and revenue mix.

It’s clear Wynn Las Vegas is growing the market across every segment, slots, table games and baccarat.

We believe Red Rock will redefine a new development and experience standard for both the locals and Las Vegas Strip markets.

If Lake Charles avoids a direct hit, devastation to the primary feeder market could have a negative impact as coverage from business interruption insurance is not certain.

Our contacts in Las Vegas had previously indicated that (credit play) for Chinese New Year was up 20 percent. We believe Chinese New Year also had a calendar benefit relative to the Super Bowl this...

We anticipate that it could be some time before operators have a clear picture of insurance receipts, which could make earnings reports for operators confusing over the next year or longer.

While the fundamentals in Las Vegas still remain strong and above the prevailing negative (investor) sentiment, there are (legitimate) concerns about slowing room rate growth, escalating cost pressures and market valuations close to national peaks.

Pinnacle is our top small-cap pick.

earnings could be messy over the near term and possibly impacted for the next 12 (months) to 24 months.

As we’ve repeatedly said, this is the type of announcement that is reflective of the strength of MGM Mirage management and its ability to find strategic opportunities globally when investors are least expecting it.

We believe the relationship with a local partner could be a particularly important factor in the decision.