How I Made $5000 in the Stock Market

Retiring Las Vegas Sands CEO Cashes In His Chips

Dec 23, 2025 13:42:00 -0500 by Bill Alpert | #Companies #Inside Scoop

Goldman Sachs raised Las Vegas Sands stock to a Buy from a Hold earlier this month. (Eduardo Leal/Bloomberg)

Key Points

Shares of the casino operator Las Vegas Sands have more than doubled since April, after apparently regaining its edge at the busy tables of Macau and Singapore. With the $66 stock at a post-Covid peak, Chief Executive Robert Goldstein sold $167 million worth this month.

Along with another $120 million sold earlier in the quarter, Goldstein has cashed in all the shares and options he directly owns. Those sales might seem more opportunistic, if Goldstein wasn’t preparing for a long-scheduled retirement in March 2026.

In response to a request for comment, the casino operator referred Barron’s to a previous statement.

“Mr. Goldstein’s belief in the Company’s prospects remains strong, and the stock sales are intended solely for financial diversification purposes,” Sands said at October’s end, as the CEO began his divestitures.

As it turns out, Goldstein is retiring as Sands seems to be reversing a yearslong slide in its leading share of Macau’s gaming market.

The company’s turnabout moved Goldman Sachs to raise the stock to a Buy from a Hold last week, while upping its price target to $80 from $64. Along with its Macau revival, Sands owns a Singapore casino complex that is the most profitable in the world. Without stinting on Singapore expansion plans, Sands could buy back 20% to 30% of its current market capitalization, says Goldman.

Sands is growing in a growing Asian market. Macau gaming revenue rose 9% this year, helped perhaps by a 20% rise in the Shanghai stock market. After spiffing up the biggest of its five Macau properties, Sands grew its share of the region’s gambling revenue and profit to about 25% and 30%, respectively, in the September quarter.

The company owns 75% of the Macau business, which pays it royalties and license fees, and the booming Marina Bay Sands complex in Singapore—whose rooftop pool adorned the movie Crazy Rich Asians. Over the next five years, Goldman believes free cash flow per share could rise from $4 to $6—enough to return a quarter of Sands market cap to shareholders, through buybacks.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Corrections & Amplifications: Las Vegas Sands sold its hotels in Las Vegas in 2022. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it still owned them.

Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com