Caesars Entertainment, the casino giant behind many resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and elsewhere, reported its first quarter earnings today.
Company: Caesars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR)
Revenue: $1.2 billion, up 6.7 percent from the first quarter of 2015. However, that doesn’t include results from Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., or CEOC, the company division that filed for bankruptcy in January 2015. Including that division, Caesars had net revenue of $2.3 billion, up 4 percent.
Loss: The company reported a net loss of $308 million, compared to reported earnings of $6.8 billion in the first quarter of 2015. The company’s results last year included a multibillion-dollar gain related to the deconsolidation of CEOC, and the results this year include a $237 million charge related to the division’s restructuring.
Loss per share: $2.12, compared to earnings per share of $46.12 last year.
What it means: Caesars CEO Mark Frissora said on a conference call with analysts that growth in his company’s interactive business was a highlight of the quarter, as was a “strong increase in lodging revenues,” specifically at the Linq hotel.
Investments in Caesars’ hotel product and the success of Jennifer Lopez’s initial residency at Planet Hollywood were among the other strong points highlighted by Frissora. Those benefits were offset in part by lower gaming revenues due to unfavorable hold and economic pressures in some of the company’s regional markets.
Frissora said Caesars continues to work on so-called “cornerstone initiatives,” which include areas such as improving the company’s hospitality and loyalty marketing programs and making investments in hotel room, entertainment and food and beverage infrastructure.
On the hotel side, Frissora said Caesars had completed about 29 percent of the more than 4,800 room renovations it plans to make in Las Vegas this year. He said they’re receiving positive reviews from customers so far and have already been a “meaningful contributor” to Caesars’ financial performance.
As he has before, Frissora again spoke of Caesars’ desire to make strides on putting forward-thinking gambling technology in its casinos. He said the company had a two-part strategy that entailed creating “unique, appealing gaming environments” and also deploying “distinctive, innovative games unlike traditional casino products.”
Describing the strategy as still in its early phases, Frissora said Caesars is investing in test pilot programs, working with game vendors on new games and “aggressively trialing new products.”