"Highly leveraged casinos were among the first to be locked out of credit markets last year," says Elliott Gue, noting that one company that suffered greatly from credit conditions was Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS).

Now, however, he see "strong propsects" for a recovery in the casino operator's future; he is particularly optimistic on the firm's Asian projects. Here's his review from Personal Finance.

"The economic downturn meant consumers reined in spending on leisure travel and gambling. Meanwhile, declining real estate prices near Las Vegas hit the local economy hard. Gaming revenues declined, and occupancy at Sin City's massive hotels plummeted.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) reported this morning that one of its subsidiaries has filed an application to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The move was widely expected, as LVS CEO Sheldon Adelson said in July that the casino firm was considering an initial public offering (IPO) or sale of its Macau assets.

"No decisions have been made regarding the timing or terms of any such offering or whether the subsidiary will ultimately proceed with such a transaction," reported LVS in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) said its profit fell due to higher expenses and warned the trend may continue.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) topped Q2 earnings expectations, which sent shares higher.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) lower Q2 earnings topped expectations, but revenue was also down.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) posted flat Q2 earnings as it waits for the next big DVD release.
• First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) posted a better-than-expected profit but guidance sent shares lower.
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) Q3 revenue missed estimates and it lowered its outlook.

Today was a day saved by CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT). The stronger Leading Economic Indicators helped, but today was all about a less futile financial services sector. It was also the 9th day in a row that the NASDAQ was up on the day.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,847.93 +103.99 (1.19%)
S&P 500 950.97 +10.59 (1.13%)
Nasdaq 1,909.29 +22.68 (1.20%)

Top Analyst Calls

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) beat profit expectations as revenue and same-store sales both increased.
• Aruba Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) received an analyst's upgrade following its Q3 report.
• Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) reported better-than-expected Q1 expectations as revenue surged.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) higher Q2 earnings beat expectations and sent shares upward.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings, sending shares higher.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) shares rose even though it reported a wider loss for the quarter.
• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) posted better-than-expected Q1 results but warned of challenges.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) reported a net loss and slumping revenues for the first quarter.
• Center Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CLFC) was downgraded following its Q1 earnings report.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) posted lower Q3 earnings that still topped analysts estimates.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's fortune has fallen $24 billion since the beginning of 2008 as shares of his Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) have dropped 95% during the year as cost-conscious consumers stay away from luxury casinos. (His fortune has dropped even further over the past two months.)

Adelson is a colorful character, who was a consulting client of mine in the 1980s. A brash guy from the streets of Dorchester -- a tough section of Boston -- Adelson first hit it big by creating Las Vegas-based COMDEX -- what was the biggest high-tech trade show around through much of the 1980s and 1990s.

Even though COMDEX faded from prominence since then, Adelson fell in love with Las Vegas and borrowed heavily to get into the casino business. Now his company holds $10.2 billion of debt on a $2.2 billion sliver of equity, and it lost $52 million over the first nine months of the year.

With the economy tanking and credit markets skittish, it could be hard for Adelson to recover. But he's been in tougher scrapes before.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. Portfolio will publish his book about Boeing, You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, on December 26, 2008. He has no financial interest in Las Vegas Sands securities.

Be sure to check out more Money Losers of 2008.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

In 2008, many big names took big face plants. Since this is a blog about money, I ranked them based on how much they lost and how far they fell. As you can see, the method is not exactly scientific. Here are the five biggest falls from grace:

1. Richard Fuld, Lehman Brothers. The $639 billion bankruptcy is history's largest so far by a factor of at least six. And Fuld personally lost about $1 billion in his personal holdings of Lehman stock. And the repercussions of letting Lehman fail stretched from money market funds to Iceland. Ouch!
2. Jimmy Cayne, Bear Stearns CEO. Cayne lost plenty of his personal wealth when Bear Stearns stock stumbled. But at least shareholders were able to get out with something when JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) bought it.
3. Eliot Spitzer, New York governor. Spitzer destroyed his once promising political career by spending time with at least one woman other than his wife. He was trying to use his prosecution of Wall Street to boost his political career as Rudy Giuliani did. But his self-destructive urges got the better of him.
4. Sheldon Adelson, CEO, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS). Adelson, a colorful character who was a consulting client of mine, has lost $30 billion on paper thanks to his excessive debt load and a decline in gambling.
5. Jerry Yang, CEO, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). Poor Jerry Yang suffered from delusions about his ability to revive his creation. He lost a chance to boost shareholder returns by selling to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) for $31 a share. With the stock at $11.51, he left big bucks on the table, and the board kicked him out of the big chair.

Let us know which one you would chose as the biggest fall of 2008.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Share the reasons for your Biggest Fall from Grace pick in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of the Best & Worst in Money 2008.

Where does a business handcuffed by a covenant that caps debt at 7.5 times cash flow go when it needs more money? If it's Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), it reaches into the bulging pockets of major shareholder and chairman Sheldon Adelson. According to The Wall Street Journal, Adelson has loaned Las Vegas Sands almost half a billion dollars.

The move will allow the company to remain within the covenant of its current $5 billion facility, which is crucial as it looks to raise an additional $2 billion for ongoing projects and refinance a current $3.3 billion loan. Earlier this month, S&P lowered the company's credit rating to B+ from BB-, reflecting weakness in the gaming industry and illiquidity in the company's position.

Traditionally, the large casino-based companies have looked to investment banks for project financing (ouch!) and LVS continues to press forward on plans to build not just in Macau, but other Far East markets such as Singapore and perhaps Taiwan. Even before the current tight money climate in the U.S., though, LVS and other major players in the Far East casino development business have been looking overseas for financing.

With a slowdown in the U.S. economy, the Las Vegas economic expansion has come to a halt. With people unable to pay for a gallon of gas, it comes as no surprise that they are not in the mood to go gamble. The Independent of the UK had a fascinating article about how Las Vegas is suffering with the slow economy.

According to the report: "With Americans cutting back on luxuries, and the price of transport rocketing, the so-called 'Vegas vacation' is facing the axe. This week, as the nation celebrated Independence Day, major hotels were taking stock of a fall in all-important room occupancy rates from their usually impressive 95 per cent levels to nearer 80 per cent."

Gambling revenues have also slipped 3%. Attendance at conventions, a big contributor to the city's coffers has dropped by more than 7%.

All an investor has to do to see how bad the carnage has been is to check some stocks related to the Las Vegas gambling and tourist industry. Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) has gone in the last 52 weeks from more than $148/share down to around $39, a drop of more than 70%. Ouch. MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) has dropped from more than $100/share to under $30.

As the economy continues to sputter, look for more trouble ahead for Las Vegas. On the other hand, contrarian investors may look at an uptick in the U.S. economy, whenever it happens, as a signal to potentially look at stocks that are associated with Las Vegas.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 7/6/08.

While many know that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are the two wealthiest, Tony Sagami notes that few know the third: Sheldon Adelson. In his Asia Stock Alert, he explains, "Adelson is the founder and CEO of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), our latest featured stock." Here, he looks at the gaming company and its bright prospects in Macau.

"Due to its strategic location in the South China Sea, Macau has a rich history as an Asian trading hub. To this day, it looks more European than Asian. And its popularity with tourists is absolutely exploding - an
estimated 27 million visited Macau last year.

"The majority (55%) came from mainland China, but many more visited from Hong Kong (30%) and Taiwan (9%). These tourists are flocking to Macau not because of its history or picturesque seaside location. They're coming to gamble.

"And boy, did they gamble! On my last visit to Macau, I saw table after table filled with boisterous high rollers routinely making $100,000 bets. These 'whales' account for about 80% of Macau's gambling revenues.

"Today, Macau has become the Las Vegas of China. It is the only city in the region with fully legalized gambling. And gambling is deeply engrained in the Asian culture. Plus, Macau is within a five-hour flight of three billion people - nearly half the world's population.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) stock is falling with the rest of the market this morning as investors, following the JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) buyout of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) on the cheap, are fearing that other banks have sizable exposure to troubled credit markets, which poses a high amount of risk to an already lagging economy. A struggling US economy would cut into LVS revenues in their domestic properties. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on LVS.

After hitting a one-year high of $148.76 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $70.70 in January. This morning, LVS opened at $72.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $70.00 and a high of $73.50. As of 1:55, LVS is trading at $71.12, down $3.70 (-4.9%). The chart for LVS looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $100 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 6.4% return in three months as long as LVS is below $100 at June expiration. LVS would have to rise by more than 40% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

LVS hasn't been above $100 since the New Year and has shown resistance around $80 recently. This trade could be risky if the US economy turns itself around, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance LVS might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $100.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in LVS.

The earnings crunch rolls on, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) earnings soared on popularity of Guitar Hero and other game franchises.
• Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) beat earnings expectations and offered revised guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) beat estimates despite lower profits due to restructuring costs.
• Chattem Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) met estimates but a weak forecast raised concerns.
• Dionex Corp. (NASDAQ: DNEX) beat estimates on strength in petrochemical and food/beverage markets.
• Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: EDS) earnings fell, helping to raise concerns about tech stocks.
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) beat estimates and affirmed its outlook.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates on lower ad revenue.
• Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) missed expectations due to rising construction costs.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) forecast it would beat earnings expectations by as much as 10 cents a share.
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) beat revenue estimates and raised its guidance.
• RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) warned it would miss first-quarter and full-year expectations.
• Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) posted disappointing results that included cancelled game franchises.
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) met estimates and announced restructuring plans (see transcript).
• Unilever (NYSE: UL) fourth-quarter net income tanked on a sell-off of its European frozen food business.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted better-than-expected results on gains in TV and theme parks.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) shares are trading higher today, even though the company reported an adjusted fourth-quarter profit of $71.1 million, or 20 cents per share, well below analyst estimates of 35 cents per share. The company blamed high construction costs on multiple new resorts for the lower earnings. However, its Las Vegas Strip model of casino-resorts is paying off in Macau, as revenues at its Macau resort increased 46% over the previous year to $10.3 billion in 2007.

Due to the fact that LVS sank 7% yesterday on a profit warning from an industry analyst, investors see this morning's earnings as not so bad. Plus, they see something to be excited about in the Macau resort's performance, judging by this morning's jump in stock price. If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on LVS.

After hitting a one-year high of $148.76 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $70.70 last month. LVS opened this morning at $84.74. So far today the stock has hit a low of $84.74 and a high of $90.19. As of 11:05, LVS is trading at $88.61, up $7.16 (8.8%). The chart for LVS looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) opened the company's new $1.9 billion resort.

The Palazzo Las Vegas is the first hotel to open on the Las Vegas Strip in nearly three years.

LVS closed at $74.46. LVS February option implied volatility of 67 is above its 26-week average of 49 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com