On Thursday's Boyd Gaming earnings call, Wall Street analysts wasted little time addressing the proverbial elephant in the room.
Boyd entered second-quarter earnings season on the back of reports that the regional gaming company approached PENN Entertainment about a potential acquisition attempt. A transaction that brings together the two casino giants would be the largest in the industry since El Dorado Resorts completed a $17.3 billion buyout of Caesars four years ago.
After a brief overview from CEO Keith Smith, Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski inquired about the intense M&A speculation. Without mentioning PENN by name, Wieczynski asked Boyd executives to expound on their appetite for considering an M&A transaction in the current environment. While Smith did not discuss any negotiations with PENN, he provided more color than the analyst anticipated.
“If you look back over the history of our company, the majority of our growth has come through M&A,” Smith replied. “I think we’ve developed a great expertise at it. We know how to buy properties right, companies right, and we know how to extract value out of these companies once they’re part of our portfolio.”