Earnings Labs

Red Rock Resorts, Inc. (RRR)

Q1 2018 Earnings Call· Tue, May 1, 2018

$55.86

+0.59%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+7.15%

1 Week

+9.93%

1 Month

+16.62%

vs S&P

+13.37%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Red Rock Resorts First Quarter 2018 Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Daniel Foley, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Daniel Foley

President

Thank you, Sonia. Good afternoon, and welcome to Red Rock Resorts' First Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me on the call today from Red Rock Resorts are Frank Fertitta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Rich Haskins, President; Steve Cootey, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; and Joe Hasson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Our call today will include forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the United States federal securities laws. Developments and results may differ from those projected or implied due to variety of factors. The risks and uncertainties related to these statements, company's future operating results, and the financial conditions are detailed in our filings with the SEC. During this call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. For definitions and a complete reconciliation of these figures to GAAP, please refer to the financial tables in our earnings press release and Form 8-K, which we filed this afternoon prior to the call. Also, please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Stephen Cootey.

Stephen Cootey

Management

Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon, everyone. First a quick note on the presentation of the company's financial information, in the first quarter the company adopted FASB’s new accounting standard for revenue recognition and elected to apply the full retrospective adoption which restates prior periods, thereby allowing for more consistent comparison of our operating results. Now let’s take a look at our solid first quarter results. For the quarter consolidated net revenues decreased 1.1% to 421 million, adjusted EBITDA increased 2.9% to 140.1 million and margins increased a 130 basis points to 33.3%. With respect to Las Vegas operations net revenues for the quarter increased 22% to 395.2 million, adjusted EBITDA increased 4.2% to a 125.9 million and margins increased 120 basis points to 31.9%. This was our highest first quarter net revenue EBITDA performance since 2008 despite the negative impact of substantial ongoing construction disruption at both Palace Station and the Palms. When viewing our Las Vegas performance, excluding Palace Station and the Palms, the strength we experience in our core business becomes very clear. Measured on that basis net revenues increased nearly 4%, adjusted EBITDA increased more than 9%, margins expanded by nearly a 170 basis points to over 35% and flow through exceeded our target of 50% to 70% range. These impressive first quarter results in our core business were driven by mid-6% growth in casino revenues as we saw solid volume across every category. Moreover, the outlook for the Las Vegas economy remains strong and should continue help sustain our positive growth going forward and all key underlying economic metrics remain favorable. With respect to population the State of Nevada remains the second fastest growing state in the nation with Las Vegas now designated as the fastest growing major metropolitan statistical area in the United States…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Joe Greff of JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open

Hey guys this is actually [Dan Wasiolek] on for Joe Greff. The first question, I guess you guys have said Palace would be at the high end of your disruption range, and obviously now you’re saying is at the lower end, I guess how much was in the first quarter of that 10 million to 15 million range and how much should we anticipate in the first half of the year?

Stephen Cootey

Management

I think the guidance speaks for itself, 2.5 million per quarter, as far as the right way to look at that.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open

And then your CapEx is pretty significant for the rest of the year, I guess how much of your CapEx was cash versus accrued -- of your CapEx was cash versus accrued?

Stephen Cootey

Management

It’s all cash.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open

And then just the last one, the employees at the Palms recently voted to [indiscernible] how does this -- how do you think it impacts your return an expected -- your return on investment in the cost structure at the property?

Stephen Cootey

Management

We’ll tell you, every individual property is required [indiscernible] and that includes the Palms as well as our other two properties we’re negotiating with. The bottom line is we do not -- we’re going to negotiate [indiscernible] we don’t expect anything -- to agree anything that won’t be in the long-term interest of the company.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Carlo Santarelli

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open

If I could -- you talked a little bit about the flow-through range of 50% to 70% that you guys have targeted for a long time and obviously talked about how your non-structured properties exceeded that range. When you think about the establishment of that range and you obviously think about tax rate jurisdiction that you're which is obviously very favorable when you're showing 6% casino revenue growth, is there any reason why that 50% to 70% feels appropriate [technical difficulty] store portfolio, given some of the top line growth that you're seeing in some of the promotional disciplines? Or could we expect to see the higher end of that range or like you said in the first quarter, kind of north of that range here in the near term?

Stephen Cootey

Management

I think you are effectively asking, so, I think we like our positioning, we like the strength of the economy, we think we have the best in class assets across the value at very stable locations Carlo. And we generally outperform whenever we have a good market. And so, we love the way the business is going right now and do feel that we can move to the higher…

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open

We think we have significant leverage to the upside, especially given the tax rate on the topline which is better than any other jurisdiction in the United States. So, on dollar per dollar revenue growth you are going to see more leverage for the upside here in Las Vegas than any other market in that space.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open

If I could just one follow up. Clearly, some work has gotten started on some of the construction projects that you guys obviously you guys talked about. Have you started to see any of the impact in the numbers right now from some of the construction labor that's coming to market over the last three to six months?

Joseph Hasson

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open

This is Joe Hasson. We are in a healthy economy right now and both the Steve and Frank mentioned, anytime we can find revenue upside, its advantageous for our business, so more people working more construction underway simply spells good things for local providers like ourselves at Station casinos and Red Rock Resorts.

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open

We also like the fact when you look at what's going on with convention center, the Raider Stadium, Resorts World, Palace Station and Palms which are going to be completely new redone facilities, are right in the center of where all this activity is happening. And I think that there will be good choices for people and allow us to capture the upside in the market.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Shaun Kelley of Bank of America. Your line is now open.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

Just maybe kind of continue on the strong casino revenue reports. You definitely had some investor concern given the reported revenue specifically came in for Las Vegas locals throughout the first quarter were decently lower than the 6% that you guys reported. So, I’m curious, could you just help us characterize the environment, I think pretty stable when you guys look at it on either volume basis or whole adjusted basis months to months, when you adjust for kind of the things you need to like slot accounting or just what's the pattern or trend you are seeing from the consumer right?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

We like what we see in the market that’s for sure. I think when you look at these state reported numbers you need to be careful of looking at any individual quarter because it has a lot to do with what the end of the month is and when the drops are done and there can be volatility unless you are looking at a sustained period of time, so maybe if you are looking on trailing 12 months you will see what the real picture is by quarter you are going to have volatility. So, we like focusing in the market.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

Second quarter would just be as we sort of win one by one looking at some of the operating performance the casino side stood out which you guys called out, there’s some declines in revenue both in food and beverage and on the room side, I imagine that’s from particularly the non-gaming component at Palms, but could you just elaborate if that’s pretty much the softness or weakness that we see there, anything else to call out, initiatives on those line items?

Stephen Cootey

Management

So, I think, the room I think you’re seeing the decline really at the Palms, but also if you recall in 2017, we did have the 400 rooms at the Palace which contributed about $1.6 million in Q1, ’17. On the food...

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

We believe on a net basis getting rid of those rooms that we’re actually better off from a free cash flow point of view because the rooms were built in the early 1970s out of [indiscernible] construction and the maintenance on the rooms were more than what we were getting out of them.

Stephen Cootey

Management

Correct. On the food and beverage side we effectively -- if you take away the Palms were effectively flat. And if you break that down, in further food and beverage itself was up about 4% and then [it became the main straggler] was catering and we’ve put new resources in place and we’re very happy with the current pipeline of the catering business moving forward.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

And lastly revisiting on Palace anything you could elaborate on in terms of sort of a cadence and how things come back online, things that we should be looking out for between 3Q and 4Q, that’d be helpful?

Stephen Cootey

Management

I think pretty much everything is going to be online by Q3 with the exception of the second-floor restaurant as well as the movie theater and that’s the only piece of the project now that’s going to remain -- remaining end of Q4.

Shaun Kelley

Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open

And the like it is long term or sort of I know in the kind of long term blueprint there’s the idea of additional hotel rooms or hotel tower there is that, where does that kind of project stand right now on management’s [indiscernible]?

Stephen Cootey

Management

Right now, the focus is on the Palms and the core Palace projects, so we’ve not looked into the new rooms and what we’re currently doing is renovating the existing tower and that’s ongoing.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Chad Beynon of Macquarie. Your line is now open.

Chad Benyon

Analyst · Macquarie. Your line is now open

I wanted to focus on the native American side of things, you said plus 13% in fee [at Graton] you guys have done an impressive job there since the opening and the expansion, could you help us think about how the property is trending and kind of opportunities as we think about 2018 and 2019 as that’s the sole asset within that segment, and then secondarily you kind of mentioned the North Fork opportunity are there other potential management contracts given your performance at this property that are on your radar stream?

Joseph Hasson

Analyst · Macquarie. Your line is now open

Let me take the question related to Graton Chad, first and foremost, the team there has done a terrific job recovering from the wildfire conditions that took place in the fourth quarter of 2017, and they’re bringing some additional capacity online, in short order at Graton it will be primarily Class 2 gaming devices occupying additional floor space. I am very encouraged by the recovery of that business given how much damage was done in one country by the wildfires. Looking forward to other development opportunities I think Steve covered it best in his prepared comments relative to any of the North Fork opportunities.

Chad Benyon

Analyst · Macquarie. Your line is now open

And then just a housekeeping one, so one of your competitors mentioned that project Neon caused some disruption I guess more towards downtown not sure if that impacted Palace Station any more than what was caused for the disruption. Do you think there was any impact just because of construction coming out on the [through that]?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Macquarie. Your line is now open

Look I think it's hard to quantify but I can tell you that from a Las Vegas locals point of view that it definitely has created traffic problems and delays in traffic to get up and down, the I-15 especially through that bottleneck called the Spaghetti Bowl. So, again it's hard to qualify but it certainly isn’t helping, I can tell you that.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Stephen Grambling of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

I want to follow-up to Shaun's question, can you single out I guess how much of the strength recently in the gaming side is driven by the slot system upgrade specifically and any sense for how that could continue to ramp?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

Look I think when you look at the strength of the Las Vegas economy that’s definitely contributed but as Steve mentioned earlier, we have a leading brand and the off-strip locals market. We have the best locations. We have the best properties with the best amenities. We have tended to outperform in and an out market. And clearly, the technology and the innovation in the slot system we believe has been a bit of a game changer for us. Now we are in the early innings of really figuring out how to leverage that to its maximum potential and it’s a big focus of our company, and like I said we are in the early innings and we think there is a lot more to come with the slot system.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

And then maybe turning to the Palms, I guess how would you assess the health of the strip versus the local's market? And do those trends change how you think about positioning the property whether it’s in marketing or otherwise between locals and strip customers?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

Well it's clear that we are going to go after both markets. I mean it’s a hybrid property and from the time that the Palms opened in 2000-2001 it had been successful in both the tourist market and the locals market. And we are going to go after both, clearly the strip market with all those [small island] convention center, the Raider Stadium, Resorts World. We are going to be in the perfect location to capture that traffic. And I think that when you guys come out I’d encourage you to take a look at phase 1 of the Palms in late May and you are going to get a glimpse of what the future is going to hold for the Palms, and I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised to the upsize to see the quality of what we are doing there and why it's going to be a place that people in Las Vegas are going to want to go to.

Stephen Grambling

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

One more longer-term follow-up. I know that you have a lot of projects underway and you mentioned that that’s the focus and there should be, but as you see the strength in the local's market, I guess what are your latest thoughts and develop a plan that you have? And how do you assess the opportunity there relative to future investments in the existing property base?

Unidentified Company Representative

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open

I think we are in a great position to take advantage of the continued growth in the Las Vegas market because as a company we control five of the best locations for future development and the off-strip locals market that are already entitled. And we are going to be disciplined. We are going to get through the Palms and Palace Station. We are going to stabilize those, we are going to make sure our balance sheet is in good shape but we have the development pipeline within our control to turn on whenever we want to. And I can tell if you ever get out on 2:15 and look what's going around -- on and around our Durango site, it’s absolutely amazing, and we’ve two sites as well in the Reno market which is growing and then we have the [President] site for Native Americans, so when you look at the pipeline for the company, we have eight development opportunities within our control.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Patrick Scholes with SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Patrick Scholes

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open

One of your competitors in the Last Vegas locals market has in the last several quarters noted that they’ve been losing some share, are you picking up any share in your properties that are not under renovation?

Stephen Cootey

Management

I think the numbers speak for themselves, I mean as I reported in the remarks I mean our gaming revenues have been up 6% and that’s been pretty consistent last couple of quarters and I believe the growth last quarter was 0.9%.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Steven Cootey for any further remarks.

Stephen Cootey

Management

Well thank you everyone for joining today’s call and we look forward to talking in 90 days. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today’s conference. This conclude today’s program. You may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.