{"id":310,"date":"2026-03-17T22:38:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=310"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:23:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:23:35","slug":"fitch-affirms-mgm-credit-grade-of-bb-three-notches-into-junk-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/fitch-affirms-mgm-credit-grade-of-bb-three-notches-into-junk-territory\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitch Affirms MGM Credit Grade of BB-, Three Notches Into Junk Territory"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>The ratings agency continues to rate the casino giant non-investment grade<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Fitch applies a \u201cstable\u201d outlook to MGM rating<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Fitch says headwinds remain in Las Vegas<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>MGM Resorts International\u2019s (NYSE: MGM) credit rating was affirmed at BB- with a \u201cstable\u201d outlook today by Fitch Ratings.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_358319\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-358319\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-358319 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Nevada Las Vegas unemployment casino\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/shutterstock_22317802931-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>The Las Vegas Strip at night. Fitch affirmed MGM&#8217;s credit rating at three levels into junk territory. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That grade puts the casino behemoth three levels into non-investment grade territory &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-credit-rating-still-in-junk-territory-at-moodys\/\">a status it holds<\/a> across the three major ratings agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Fitch points out MGM\u2019s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) leverage skews toward the high side for comparably rated companies.<\/p>\n<p>However, the operator\u2019s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rating is in line <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/resorts-world-las-vegas-earns-ig-credit-rating-from-fitch\/\">with those of BBB-rated<\/a> companies. That\u2019s an investment-grade mark. However, Las Vegas visitation remains an issue for MGM.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Las Vegas visitation and room revenues declined in 2025, which appears to be initially carrying into 2026. Reduction in international travel, timing of major sporting events and convention exhibits, and perception of higher costs in the market has been attributable to the market softness,\u201d notes Fitch.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The research firm points out the operator\u2019s higher-end venues are performing better than its \u201cvalue-oriented\u201d Las Vega casino hotels. Excalibur and Luxor are in the latter category, and those venues account for just 6% of MGM\u2019s overall EBITDA.<\/p>\n<h2>MGM Has Strong Liquidity<\/h2>\n<p>MGM has a policy of maintaining liquidity of at least $3 billion, which allows it to finance growth projects and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-makes-cut-in-goldman-sachs-buyback-basket\/\">shareholder rewards including buybacks<\/a>. Fitch says that it is \u201csufficient\u201d liquidity to drive growth, but notes the operator doesn\u2019t have many levers to pull to raise cash in an extraordinary distressed scenario.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>That\u2019s not to say such a situation is imminent. It\u2019s not, but MGM long divested its wholly owned assets, turning real estate into cash and long-term lease obligations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe move to asset-light allowed the company to materially reduce debt, but it reduces its flexibility to mortgage securities during distressed situations if funds are needed. MGM&#8217;s run-rate triple-net leases (including non-cash lease expense) are expected to annualize to roughly $2.3 billion in 2026,\u201d adds Fitch.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>MGM <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-entain-rally-as-betmgm-posts-first-profitable-year\/\">owns half of<\/a> BetMGM, but it\u2019d likely take an incredibly dire scenario for the gaming company to part with what\u2019s an increasingly lucrative digital wagering stake.<\/p>\n<h2>Flat-ish Outlook for MGM<\/h2>\n<p>Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is the only major US-based casino operator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-credit-rating-back-in-investment-grade-territory\/\">with an investment-grade<\/a> credit rating, though at Fitch, MGM and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN). That\u2019s an indication that MGM\u2019s grade isn\u2019t unusual nor overly poor for the industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking out to the remainder of 2026, Fitch sees MGM spending $750 million to $1 billion on share repurchases and $1 billion to $1.1 billion, including $200 million in Macau, on capital expenditures. The ratings agency says revenue growth will be lethargic with Macau and BetMGM likely to be bright spots.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTotal revenues are expected to be flat in 2026. Slight declines in Las Vegas and regional markets will be offset by growth in Macau and Digital gaming,\u201d concludes Fitch. \u201cExpect improvements in Las Vegas and regional markets to lead to low single-digit growth over the forecast horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/fitch-affirms-mgm-credit-grade-of-bb-three-notches-into-junk-territory\/\">Fitch Affirms MGM Credit Grade of BB-, Three Notches Into Junk Territory<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ratings agency continues to rate the casino giant non-investment grade Fitch applies a \u201cstable\u201d outlook to MGM rating Fitch says headwinds remain in Las Vegas MGM Resorts International\u2019s (NYSE: MGM) credit rating was affirmed at BB- with a \u201cstable\u201d outlook today by Fitch Ratings. The Las Vegas Strip at night. Fitch affirmed MGM&#8217;s credit&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}