Diamonds and Dogs

3/8/18

Steve who? Wynn Resorts (WYNN) is trading up 5.5% thanks to a mid-quarter update following the removal of their CEO and founder, Steve Wynn. Halfway through the quarter, Wynn Resorts is seeing 27% and 34% earnings growth thanks to their two Macau resorts. Wynn Macau resort is seeing revenue growth of 19% year over year to $418.1 million while Wynn Palace total revenue is up 37.3% year over year to $437.2 million. Wynn is also accelerating their dividend increase to 75 cents a share from $0.51 share.  Not a good year for Steve Wynn, but a great year for his former resorts.

Cigna (CI) taking a hit after announcing the acquisition of Express Scripts (ESRX) for $67 billion. The deal comes as a shock because Express Scripts and pharmacy benefit managers, in general, have been under fire and unloved on Wall Street. To some extent, Cigna may be jumping into the frying pan. Cigna sees the combination as giving it the scale and skill sets to deliver value to customers, hold down health costs and compete in a world in which its competitors like UnitedHealth and CVS. Cigna told analysts on Thursday that the deal would immediately add to earnings and provide a significant boost in the intermediate term. The company raised its EPS target for 2021 to $20-$21 per share from $18.