By Katherine Hamilton

Caesars Entertainment shares rose after the company's latest quarterly report helped quell investor fears about consumer spending weakness in Las Vegas.

The stock gained 14% to $21.62 on Wednesday following Tuesday evening's report. Shares are still down 43% over the past 12 months.

Revenue from the gambling company's Las Vegas business fell about 4% to $1.04 billion in the fourth quarter, which was a smaller decline than in the third quarter. Overall sales increased 4%, beating analysts' projections.

Chief Executive Tom Reeg told analysts on a call that weakness last year in Las Vegas was cyclical and is improving. Sluggish sales at Caesars' main commercial hub in 2025 weighed on the company's stock.

"There's really no crisis happening in Vegas," Reeg said on the call. "The center strip is holding up quite well."

Reeg said he expects the cyclical weakness to play itself out and anticipates a stable environment for brick-and-mortar gaming in 2026.

His commentary and the sequential improvement in Vegas sales came as a relief to investors, J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note.

"It was a pleasantly uneventful quarter," the analysts said.

Stifel analysts said it is likely Las Vegas has returned to the seasonality cycles it tended toward before Covid-19. They believe Caesar's troubles in 2025 were a result of those cycles, and expect the Vegas Strip will neither grow nor have further declines in 2026.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2026 11:34 ET (16:34 GMT)

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