Las Vegas Sands Widens Loss

LAS VEGAS (TheStreet) -- Las Vegas Sands(LVS Quote) widened its loss in the third quarter, hurt by income tax costs and decline in gambling.

During the quarter, the casino operator recorded a loss of $123 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $32.2 million, or 9 cents, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, Las Vegas Sands actually posted a profit of 3 cents a share, better than the penny loss analysts expected.

While revenue inched up 3% to $1.14 billion from $1.1 billion, it fell short of Wall Street's consensus of $1.17 billion.

Las Vegas Sands said it is seeing strength in its Macau units, which are on the block for an initial public offering.

The company also provided an update on its construction in Singapore, which it said is on track to open in the first quarter of 2010.

Shares of Sands gave up their earlier gains on the news, falling 3.2% in after-market action. Prior to the release the company ended the day up 12.1% to $14.76.