Consumer >> Sector Roundtables >> June 29, 1998

Roundtable Forum: Gaming Industry

ROBIN M. FARLEY is an Executive Director in the equity research division of UBS Warburg covering the cruise line, gaming and leisure industries. Prior to joining Paine Webber (acquired by UBS Warburg), Ms. Farley was with Deutsche Banc. Alex. Brown and its predecessor firms (BT Alex. Brown and BT Securities, subsidiaries of Bankers Trust). She has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and frequently in other media discussing the leisure industry. Ranked by Institutional Investor magazine for her research, she has also been named a Wall Street Journal All Star/Best on The Street, including being ranked number one for stock-picking and an All-Star for estimate accuracy in 1999. She holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School. Ms. Farley is a member of the NYSSA. Profile
RICHARD W. STEENKEN is a Managing Director of ARCO Investment Management Company. Previously, Profile
JASON N. ADER is a Senior Managing Director for Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. During the past eight years, he has built an impressive franchise at Bear Stearns, supervising research coverage for more than 50 public companies in the gaming, lodging and leisure industries. His expertise also encompasses the gaming industry's high yield bond market. He has received numerous distinctions for his research. Not only has he been ranked in Institutional Investor's All-America Research Team for the past eight years, he has been II's top-ranked gaming and lodging analyst for three consecutive years. In 1999, he was named one of New York City's '40 Under 40' by Crain's New York Business. In addition, he produces the North American Gaming Almanac and the Global Lodging Almanac. Mr. Ader began his career at Baron Capital, where he began following the casino industry. From Baron Capital, Mr. Ader moved to Smith Barney. He joined Bear Stearns in 1995. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from New York University. Profile
Dennis I. Forst is a Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. He has been with the company since 1997 and is responsible for all aspects of research of the gaming and lodging REIT industries. Mr. Forst was previously the Senior Vice President at Sutro & Co. Inc., and before that, he was the Senior Vice President, Corporate Research, with Security Pacific Merchant Bank. He also has held senior positions with Seidler Securities, Bateman Eichler, Caesars World, Inc., and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Forst is a member of the International Federation of Chartered Financial Analysts and the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts. He has been among The Wall Street Journal's top-ranked U.S. gaming Analysts for 12 of the 13 years the survey has been conducted, winning him a position in the Analysts Hall of Fame. He was also named a top boutique/regional Analyst by Institutional Investor and as the number one restaurant Analyst by Forbes. Mr. Forst holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. Profile
DAVID W. ANDERS is employed at Merrill Lynch as a First Vice President covering the lodging and gaming sectors. Prior to this, he was employed by Credit Suisse First Boston for just over three years, where he covered gaming, lodging and leisure companies. Mr. Anders started his career with Montgomery Securities in 1992. He earned a Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Applied Securities Analysis Program. For the last five years Institutional Investor magazine has ranked Mr. Anders as one of the top gaming and lodging analysts. He has been widely quoted in many other trade publications. Additionally, Mr. Anders has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn and Bloomberg Television. Profile
TWST: David, I'd like to start by asking each of the panelists to review

the performance of the gaming stocks over the past six to 12 months, and

to compare the performance of the major gaming