Boyd Gaming Beats on EPS While Vegas Locals Keep Sliding

Boyd Gaming posted adjusted earnings of $1.93 a share for the second quarter of 2026, beating Wall Street’s consensus estimate by a few cents. Revenue barely moved from a year earlier, and net income fell 13%.

Every cent of that per-share gain traces back to a shrinking share count, not a growing business. And the casino operator’s home turf, its Las Vegas Locals segment, spent a second straight quarter losing ground.

The Three-Cent Beat

The Las Vegas based company (NYSE: BYD) reported second-quarter revenue of $1.03 billion, essentially flat against the $1.035 billion it booked in the same period of 2025. Net income came to $131.2 million, or $1.75 a share, down from $151.5 million, or $1.84 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings, the number Wall Street watches most closely, reached $144.4 million, or $1.93 a share, versus $154.2 million, or $1.87 a share, in last year’s second quarter. Boyd disclosed the figures in a filing posted with regulators Thursday. Wall Street had penciled in adjusted earnings near $1.89 a share and revenue around $1.04 billion heading into the report, according to analyst estimates compiled ahead of the print.

Comparable property operating margins held at 40%, a level Boyd says it has maintained for several years. The company’s overall operating margin, which folds in corporate costs, depreciation and rent, slipped to 19.4% from 23.4%. Property-level strength and companywide profitability told two different stories in the same release.

Where the Extra Pennies Came From

Boyd’s board leaned hard on the buyback lever to push per-share earnings higher even as the total profit pool shrank. The company repurchased $156 million of its own stock during the quarter, according to the company’s second-quarter results statement, and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.20 a share on July 15.

• $156 million in stock repurchases during the second quarter alone
• $551 million left under the current buyback authorization as of June 30
• $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, paid July 15, 2026
• 33% reduction in Boyd’s total share count over the past four-plus years

That pace of buying has been the company’s playbook for years. Fewer shares outstanding means the same or even a smaller pool of dollars gets divided into a bigger per-share number, which is exactly what happened this quarter.

Midwest, Managed and Online Cover for Vegas

Boyd’s other three reporting segments did the work of holding the quarter together. Midwest & South casinos delivered revenue and adjusted EBITDAR growth, driven by increased play from core and retail customers and contributions from recent capital investments across the segment.

The Online segment grew on strength in Boyd’s own online casino gaming business plus contributions from third-party market access agreements, consistent with recent quarters. The Managed business, which collects fees for running outside properties, grew on higher management fees from Sky River Casino following its recently completed expansion.

Our second-quarter results demonstrated the benefits of our diversified business model, with strong performances from our Midwest & South operations, Online segment and Managed business.

Keith Smith, Boyd’s president and chief executive officer, said the line in the company’s earnings release. His list names three segments. Las Vegas Locals, the unit built around Boyd’s home city casinos, is not one of them.

Why Is Las Vegas Locals Still Lagging?

Boyd’s Las Vegas Locals properties are still working through a slump that began earlier this year. Destination business at the Orleans stayed soft, and construction work disrupted operations at Suncoast, offsetting stronger results at the segment’s other casinos, the company said in its second-quarter release.

The pattern is not new. In the first quarter, Boyd’s Las Vegas Locals properties generated $217.1 million in revenue, down from $222.8 million a year earlier, with segment earnings of $99.9 million versus $106.5 million. The Orleans, which has 1,886 rooms, felt the pullback in visitor traffic more than any other Boyd property in Las Vegas.

During the company’s first-quarter call in April, Smith made a similar point about the segment’s name. “Here in Nevada, locals properties are not 100% locals,” he said, adding that neighborhood gamblers were actually holding up fine while out-of-town visitors were the softer piece of the mix.

The Rest of Clark County Is Slumping Too

Boyd is not fighting this alone. State regulators’ figures show locals-oriented casinos across Clark County have lagged the tourist-heavy Strip for stretches of 2026, even when the Strip itself was climbing.

In May, the balance of Clark County, the category that captures locals-oriented properties away from the Strip and Downtown, declined 5.63% to $164.4 million even as Strip gaming win jumped 13.19% to $807.89 million and statewide win rose 7.43% to $1.39 billion, according to Nevada Gaming Control Board figures. Earlier in the year the direction flipped but the locals pocket still struggled: January’s Strip win fell 11% to $747.7 million, Downtown Las Vegas dropped 5.17%, and Clark County overall fell 8.36%.

Tourism data help explain part of the softness. Las Vegas visitor volume fell nearly 7.4% over an 11-month stretch measured by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, with international arrivals hit hardest as new travel costs and tariff disputes weighed on cross-border trips.

Wall Street Bet on a Turnaround Before the Print

Analysts had grown more bullish on Boyd in the weeks before the report, largely on hopes that Las Vegas Locals earnings would finally turn a corner.

• Wells Fargo analyst Trey Bowers raised his price target to $88 from $81 in early July, keeping an Equal Weight rating
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage in late June with a Neutral rating and a $91 target, pointing to a regional gaming “resurgence”
• Benchmark Co. started coverage in June with a Buy rating and a $100 target
• Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the stock heading into the print

The market’s reaction to Thursday’s numbers was muted next to that buildup. Shares slipped three cents to $86.63 on higher than average volume, well inside a 52-week range of $76.33 to $91.00.

Boyd’s next earnings report, covering the third quarter, will show whether the Orleans and Suncoast have turned that corner or whether Midwest & South, Online and Managed have to keep carrying the company again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Boyd Gaming’s per-share profit rise even though net income fell?

Dividing adjusted earnings by adjusted earnings per share puts Boyd’s diluted share count at roughly 75 million in the second quarter of 2026, down from about 82 million a year earlier. A shrinking share count means even a smaller total profit pool can produce a higher per-share figure, which is how adjusted EPS rose 3% while total adjusted earnings fell more than 6%.

What happened to Boyd Gaming’s stake in FanDuel?

Boyd sold its 5% stake in FanDuel Group to Flutter Entertainment for roughly $1.75 billion in a deal announced in mid-2025, while extending market access agreements between the two companies through 2038. The cash from that sale helped fund the debt reduction and buyback capacity Boyd is now using, and the extended agreements are why the Online segment still credits growth partly to third-party market access contributions.

Which casinos make up Boyd Gaming’s Las Vegas Locals segment?

The segment covers Boyd’s off-Strip casinos built to serve Southern Nevada residents rather than out-of-town tourists, including the Orleans and Suncoast, both named in the company’s second-quarter release as sources of softness. Boyd operates nine hotel-casinos in the Las Vegas valley in total, with roughly 5,400 hotel rooms across them.

How does Boyd Gaming’s valuation compare with other casino operators?

Boyd has traded at a forward price-to-earnings ratio near 11, alongside lease-adjusted leverage of roughly 2.4 times, which analysts have described as the strongest balance sheet in the company’s history. Rivals MGM Resorts and Penn Entertainment have historically carried heavier debt loads and have not matched Boyd’s pace of share buybacks.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Boyd Gaming shares carry normal market risk, and readers should consult a licensed financial professional before making investment decisions. Figures are accurate as of the July 23, 2026 earnings release.