The Brexit vote pushed U.S. Treasury rates to record lows and the S&P 500 Index to new record highs, creating a sort of dash for stocks with a modicum of safety.
In this time of low interest rates and rising stocks, Las Vegas Sands Corp(NYSE:LVS), Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.B) and ING Groep NV (ADR) (NYSE:ING) offer just the sort of market exposure and stable dividend yields investors crave right now.
Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS)
Forget Las Vegas. The story for the biggest names in gambling in the past two years has been the precipitous fall of gross gaming revenue in the world’s largest gaming hub: Macau, China.
Macau is currently in the middle of an incredible 25-month streak of negative year-over-year GGR growth. The 2014 crackdown on corruption and money laundering in Macau triggered the fall. June marked the lowest monthly GGR total for Macau since September 2010.
Fortunately for LVS shareholders, UBS reported earlier this month that it expects GGR growth to return to Macau in the fourth quarter of this year, meaning the worst of the downturn is now over. Impressively, LVS has stayed profitable throughout the downfall and still trades at a reasonable forward price-earnings ratio of 20.1.
During LVS’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Sheldon Adelson declared that the company “will continue to return excess cash to shareholders while maintaining our ability to invest in new development opportunities.”
LVS’s payout ratio is currently an elevated 119.7%, which is certainly troubling. However, the 5.6% dividend seems to be a top priority to management. If the company hasn’t cut it by now, it’s unlikely to cut it at this point with the beginning of the next long-term upswing in Macau potentially one quarter away.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B)
RDS.B is…
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