Las Vegas Sands: Time to Ante Up?

Greetings from New York, where, in an upset of Douglas-beats-Tyson proportions, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is in the process of dethroning Olivia Newton John as my all-time favorite Sandy.

To put this in perspective, I was 9 when I saw the theatrical release of Grease. I entered the theater a boy. Two hours later, anatomical parts of me had distended and I knew the precise identity of “The One that I Want.” I’m still not sure if I prefer leather or lace Sandy, but I digress. The point here is the once-unassailable title of my all time favorite Sandy is under attack from the most unlikely source.

Las Vegas Sands -- a casino name operating in a recession and possessing tighter cash flows than naughty Sandy’s pants -- has me confused in a way I never saw coming.

I returned from the surprisingly crowded Venetian (a Sands property) on Monday with no interest in the name. Then I mulled over the “surprisingly crowded” part of that sentence. Then I saw the debt relief, considered how the casino group was considered roadkill, and discussed the names with Doug Kass - a longtime friend who happened to be at the Venetian through sheer coincidence.

“What the heck,” I mused, “I need something to fill the void left by my bank sales, and the price action looks good. Think I’ll pick up a little LVS and maybe a little Wynn Resorts (WYNN) to go with it.” MGM Mirage (MGM) has been great, but it’s little more than Las Vegas Sandy’s ugly friend, to my eyes. Sandy has me smitten, stricken, and alas, selling.

If Danny Zuko taught us anything it’s this: Smoking is cool, and no matter how much of a jerk you are, the girl will come back to you in the end. There could be a hidden flaw somewhere in that logic, but who am I to argue with the last great American musical? I’ve packed a full summer’s worth of gains into 3 days with new Sandy.

Tough as it is, it’s time to say goodbye.

In less distended news:
 

• Does anyone else think these Stress Test “preliminary results” are going to rip banks higher? Either the government is going to go full socialist and take over the whole system or declare all is well. Failing select names based on a fake test with secret rules would be the worst move since the people of Troy said, “How nice of the Greeks to build us an enormous wooden horse! Let’s bring it inside and go to bed!” I’m toying with some bank exposure (Wells Fargo (WFC) which, yes, I know I just sold, and others we’ll discuss later).
  
  
• How can I buy a stock I just sold? A) I’m a trader, B) I coined the phrase “It’s a sin to stay wrong, not to be wrong,” so I might as well live with it, and C) It’s got a $20 stop, a break out immediately overhead, and an afternoon catalyst.
  
  
• Back to Grease for a moment. Whether you prefer Leather Sandy or Lace Sandy says a lot about you, man-wise.
  
  
• Amazon (AMZN) is up 7% after I publicly rooted for a sell-off. Joe DiMaggio has nothing on me; except Marilyn, legendary status and Hall of Fame credentials. That said, I met a shell of the man when we both lived in San Francisco for a time. I’m comfortable saying that I'm generally nicer to strangers than he was. So there’s that, even if it’s really not saying much.
  
  
• Yesterday I mentioned readers arguing the Sony (SNE) reader, the start-up TXTR (see the product here) and now the Apple (AAPL) iPod has contenders to the crown I awarded to Amazon’s Kindle reader yesterday. Gunning the pretenders down in order: Sony’s best days coincided with Joe DiMaggio’s, the TXTR is unpronounceable and not out until the third quarter, and the idea of reading an entire book on an iPhone is the only iPhone idea capable of filling me with more dread than using the thing for an important phone call. The Kindle wins. Deal with it.
  
  
• Netflix (NFLX) may or may not be dead in the long-term, but the quarter it just reported looked pretty good. And dropping a couple bucks is nothing, considering Netflix is up over 40% year to date. Unless and until it hits $40, I’m simply not interested.