Wynn Resorts named most admired Vegas company

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Wynn Resorts Ltd. remained the most admired company in Las Vegas in the hotel-casino industry as ranked by Fortune magazine.

Fortune's annual list was released Thursday and puts Wynn Resorts at No. 4 in the category of hotels, casinos and resorts. The list is based on surveys of industry participants and analysts.

The rankings were released about a month after Wynn Resorts reported a $114.2 million profit for 2010, compared with a loss of $4.2 million in 2009. In a regulatory filing, the company said sales came in at $1.24 billion for its Macau operations.

On Thursday, Wynn Resorts shares reached a new 52-week high of $131.08, before closing at $130.53, up $4.45, or 3.53 percent, on heavy volume of 2.43 million shares traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Wynn Resorts ranked high in the Fortune list for innovation, quality of products and services as well as global competitiveness and quality of management. The company, which owns and operates Wynn Las Vegas, Encore and Wynn Macau, received modest rankings for long-term investment, financial soundness and social responsibility.

Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels and Starwood Hotels and Resorts topped the list of the most admired companies in the hotels, casinos and resorts list.

MGM Resorts International, which ranked No. 5 on last year's list, dropped to No. 9 while Las Vegas Sands Corp. was No. 8 and Harrah's, now Caesars Entertainment Corp., was ranked No. 10.

Wyndham Worldwide at No. 6 and Accor at No. 9 were the other hotel companies to make the list. Two Las Vegas-based gaming companies that were on last year's list were not ranked this year -- Penn National Gaming and Boyd Gaming Corp.

For the fourth consecutive year, Apple topped Fortune's list of the world's most admired companies. The only hotel company ranked in the Top 50 was Marriott International, which ranked No. 37.