NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Sands China a unit of casino operator Las Vegas Sands are down by 1.49% to $3.96 in late afternoon trading on Monday, as some stocks related to China's Macau gambling district decline today after data showed Macau's economy fell by 17.2% in the 2014 fourth quarter. Macau, the only place in China where it is legal to gamble, has been dealing with a decline in gambling revenue that began in June. Last month gambling revenue in the gaming hub dropped by 49%. Gross domestic product for the year had declined by 0.4% as the Chinese government's anti-corruption campaign has kept players away from the gaming tables, CNNMoney.com reports. From 2002 the district has grown into a $45 billion casino industry, about seven times larger than Las Vegas, CNNMoney.com added, but growth in the region has stalled as a result of Beijing's anticorruption initiatives. Additionally, Morgan Stanley downgraded the Macau casino sector today, predicting a 25% decline in this year's gross gaming revenue, down from its previous 7% decline forecast, Barron's reports. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP (LVS) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income and impressive record of earnings per share growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and greatly outperformed compared to the Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry average. The net income increased by 24.9% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $577.54 million to $721.31 million. Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 7.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 6.5%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share. LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP has improved earnings per share by 28.6% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. However, we anticipate underperformance relative to this pattern in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP increased its bottom line by earning $3.51 versus $2.79 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 10.1% in earnings ($3.16 versus $3.51). LVS's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 39.01%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last quarter. Looking ahead, the stock's sharp decline over the past year may have been what was needed in order to bring its value into alignment with its fundamentals and others in its industry. You can view the full analysis from the report here: LVS Ratings Report
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