CICC: Macau's gaming revenue in April broadly meets expectations, Sands China (01928) is the preferred choice.

Zhongjin released a research report stating that Macau's total gaming revenue in April increased by 5.5% year-on-year, which is basically in line with market expectations of a 6.5% year-on-year increase. Compared to the previous month, the revenue fell by 12% but recovered to 84.3% of the same period in 2019. Zhongjin believes that the performance in April was relatively flat, mainly due to the industry being in the off-season, low win rates, and regulatory authorities strengthening supervision on cross-border gaming promotion and misuse of transit visas to travel to Macau. The bank estimates that VIP gaming revenue in April decreased by 46% to 55% compared to April 2019, while mass market gaming revenue increased by 11% to 19% compared to April 2019, with mass market revenue accounting for 70% to 75% of total gaming revenue. The bank predicts that the total gaming revenue in May will be between 21.7 billion to 23.3 billion Macau patacas, with daily revenue ranging from 700 million to 750 million Macau patacas. The year-on-year growth is expected to be between 2% to 10%, representing a decrease of 10% to 16% compared to May 2019. The ranking of individual stocks within the sector remains Sands China (01928) > MGM China (02282) = Galaxy Entertainment (00027) (tied) > Melco > Wynn Macau (01128) > SJM Holdings (00880).