NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL) are lower by 1.89% to $20.99 in mid-afternoon trading on Monday, as stocks belonging to casinos operating in China's Macau gambling district take a hit following data from the territory's statistical agency, showing Macau's economy declined by 17.2% in the 2014 fourth quarter.

Gross domestic product for the year had declined by 0.4% as the Chinese government's anti-corruption campaign has kept players away from the gambling hub, CNNMoney.com reports.

Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal.

From 2002 the district has grown into a $45 billion casino industry, about seven times larger than Las Vegas, CNNMoney.com added, but growth in the region has stalled as a result of Beijing's anticorruption initiatives.

Revenue growth in Macau casinos began to decline last June and continued into February. Last month Macau reported a 49% drop in gaming revenue.

Additionally, Morgan Stanley (MS) - Get Report downgraded the Macau casino sector today, predicting a 25% decline in this year's gross gaming revenue, down from its previous 7% decline forecast, Barron's reports. Morgan Stanley has an "equal-weight" rating on Melco Crown.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates MELCO CROWN ENTMT LTD as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate MELCO CROWN ENTMT LTD (MPEL) a BUY. This is driven by multiple strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and reasonable valuation levels. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.98, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 2.59, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• MPEL, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 7.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 19.6%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 50.13%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 57.50% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, the stock's sharp decline over the past year may have been what was needed in order to bring its value into alignment with its fundamentals and others in its industry.
• MELCO CROWN ENTMT LTD has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last year. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, MELCO CROWN ENTMT LTD reported lower earnings of $1.10 versus $1.15 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 10.9% in earnings ($0.98 versus $1.10).
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: MPEL Ratings Report