Boyd's Best Bet: Ditch the Casino, Sell the Land?

For now, most Wall Street analysts are valuing Echelon at about $15 million an acre, which is the price at which Boyd contributed land in its joint venture with Morgans for the project.

Besides the New Frontier sale, there are other signs pointing to higher land values at Echelon. Executives at MGM and Wynn both said in recent months that they would not sell their Strip land outright for less than $30 million an acre, according to a research note from Jefferies & Co. analyst Larry Klatzkin.

Using this $30 million-an-acre threshold value for the Echelon land, Klatzkin says Boyd's stock would be worth $82 a share, up from his prior $63 estimate (which uses a $15 million land value) and sharply above the stock's current value of around $45.

Boyd's management could probably learn a thing or two from MGM's discussions with Kerkorian.

At the end of the day, MGM may end up finding a way to monetize City Center, a massive $7.4 billion casino complex under construction next to the Bellagio in Las Vegas, at an attractive price, while also shedding the development risk.

Many Boyd investors would love for something similar to be done with Echelon.

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