Las Vegas Sands Earnings: Singapore Soars, Macao Lags

Las Vegas Sands ((LVS)) has held its Q4 earnings call. Read on for the main highlights of the call.

Las Vegas Sands Strikes Record in Singapore While Macao Margins Lag

Las Vegas Sands’ latest earnings call painted a tale of two regions: an exceptionally strong, record-setting quarter at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore contrasted with softer-than-hoped profitability in Macao. Management’s tone was confident and upbeat about long-term growth, especially into 2026, but candid about near-term margin pressure driven by business mix shifts, intense competition, and volatility from gaming hold and taxes.

Record Marina Bay Sands Quarter

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) delivered what management called the greatest quarter in casino-hotel history, generating record quarterly EBITDA of $806 million at a hefty 50.3% margin. For the year, company-wide EBITDA was cited at roughly $2.9 billion, underscoring MBS’s role as the core earnings engine. The property’s powerful profitability highlights both the strength of the Singapore market and the payoff from several years of heavy reinvestment and renovation.

Strong Mass Gaming Growth Across the Portfolio

Mass gaming and spot win reached about $951 million in the quarter, up roughly 27% year over year and an impressive 118% versus the pre-pandemic Q4 2019 baseline. This surge in mass play is bolstering revenues at MBS and supporting recovery across the group’s properties. For investors, the robust mass trends are critical because mass gaming typically provides more stable and higher-margin revenue than VIP rolling play, even as mix dynamics are currently complicating margins in other parts of the portfolio.

Major Acceleration in Rolling Chip Volume in Macao

In Macao, rolling chip volume – a key gauge of high-end VIP and premium play – accelerated sharply, up around 60% versus last year. This growth means Las Vegas Sands is outpacing an already fast-growing market in premium segments. While this surge is boosting top-line revenue and underlining the company’s competitive strength in attracting higher-stakes customers, it also skews the business toward lower-margin rolling and premium activity, creating a trade-off between growth and profitability.

New Product and Asset Investments Driving High-End Demand

Management highlighted the ramp-up of the Londoner Grand and other upgraded suites and premium products as important drivers of customer adoption and productivity at the high end. Renovations at Marina Bay Sands are largely complete, with additional targeted capital spending continuing to refine the offering. These investments are translating into better performance per room and table, enhancing the company’s positioning in the luxury and premium mass segments and setting the stage for sustained earnings power from a refreshed asset base.

Active Shareholder Returns and Balance Sheet Moves

Las Vegas Sands continued to deploy capital aggressively for shareholder benefit. The company repurchased $500 million of LVS stock during the quarter and bought $66 million of Sands China Ltd. (SCL) shares, increasing its SCL stake to 74.8% by year-end 2025. It also paid its recurring quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share. These actions signal confidence in the company’s valuation and cash generation, even as it continues to fund major capital projects such as ongoing MBS enhancements and its IR2 development.

Operational Momentum and Strategic Positioning

Management emphasized strong visitation trends, with Sands China visitation approaching 2019 levels and Marina Bay Sands enjoying a favorable, geographically diverse customer mix. The company sees this broad-based demand as a structural positive, supporting long-term growth in both mass and premium segments. Leadership expressed conviction that the current revenue momentum will increasingly translate into stronger EBITDA over time as reinvestment strategies mature and cost structures are optimized.

Macao EBITDA Disappointment and Margin Compression

Despite strong volumes, Macao’s profitability fell short of expectations. The region generated $608 million of EBITDA in the quarter, which management openly described as disappointing. Adjusted Macao EBITDA margin came in at about 28.9%, down roughly 390 basis points from the prior year’s fourth quarter. The margin drag reflects a mix shift toward lower-margin segments and heightened reinvestment, suggesting that Macao remains more of a volume story than a margin story in the near term.

Shift Toward Lower-Margin Premium and Rolling Business

Market growth in Macao is increasingly concentrated in premium mass and rolling segments, which inherently carry lower margins than base mass. A higher share of rolling business and super-premium non-rolling play weighed on portfolio margins and limited flow-through from revenue to EBITDA. While this mix supports headline growth and market share gains, it dilutes overall profitability and underscores the importance of eventually reigniting higher-margin base mass spending.

Stagnant Base Mass Limits Margin Upside

Base mass spend per visitor in Macao remains below pre-COVID levels and has shown little recovery, even as visitation nears 2019 counts. This stagnation is capping margin upside: more visitors are coming through the doors, but they are not spending as much as they once did. Without a meaningful rebound in base mass spend, the company’s ability to push Macao margins back toward historical highs will depend heavily on managing reinvestment, promotional intensity, and operating costs.

Higher Operating Costs and Promotional Intensity

Operating expenses climbed due to higher payroll, expanded events – including a major NBA event – longer table operating hours, and stepped-up reinvestment and promotional efforts. Non-rolling hold percentage declined by about 140 basis points, further pressuring results. Management noted that promotional intensity in Macao is both elevated and dynamic, reflecting fierce competition across the market. While these investments are aimed at capturing and retaining customers in the premium segments, they are weighing on current margins and profitability.

Hold and Tax Volatility Skewing Reported EBITDA

Reported results were meaningfully affected by both gaming hold and tax variability. In Macao, EBITDA would have been roughly $26 million lower if results were adjusted for expected rolling hold, implying that actual hold modestly benefited the quarter. At Marina Bay Sands, adjusted EBITDA would have been about $45 million lower under expected hold. Additionally, hitting a higher mass gaming tax rate earlier in the year reduced MBS’s Q4 EBITDA by approximately $44 million. These factors introduced noise into the quarter’s reported numbers, complicating comparisons and masking some underlying trends.

Forward-Looking Guidance and Management Outlook

Management reiterated EBITDA of about $2.9 billion for the year and positioned Marina Bay Sands as the company’s primary growth engine following its record quarter, with mass gaming and related win up 118% versus Q4 2019 and 27% year over year. In Macao, leadership characterized the business as a generally low-30s-percent margin operation and indicated a target of up to around $700 million of EBITDA per quarter as rolling volumes – already up around 60% year on year – and promotional strategies fully ramp. The company plans to continue opportunistic share repurchases and dividends while maintaining significant capital expenditure at MBS and on IR2, signaling confidence that today’s investments and margin pressures will translate into stronger, more sustainable earnings as the cycle matures.

Las Vegas Sands’ earnings call showcased a company riding powerful momentum in Singapore while working through growing pains in Macao. Record-breaking results at Marina Bay Sands, robust mass and premium volumes, and active capital returns point to a solid long-term story, even as mix shifts, promotions, and tax and hold volatility compress near-term margins. For investors, the key takeaway is a business leaning into growth and reinvestment today with an eye toward higher, more stable earnings and improved margins as the market normalizes and spending patterns strengthen, particularly in Macao.