TICKER TALK

Mirage Resorts’ stock continues to languish ahead of the company’s planned fall opening of its opulent Bellagio hotel/casino in Las Vegas, whose $1.8-billion price tag is $600 million over the original estimate. Mirage shares, at $23, are down 24% from their 52-week high of $30.38 set Sept. 22.

Stocks of other casino giants also are suffering, partly on fears that Vegas has finally overreached and that the huge surge in new hotel rooms coming on the market over the next 15 months will far exceed demand. (We’ve heard that one before!)

Prudential Securities, in a recent report, says Mirage shares are priced “as if Bellagio is going to turn out to be the hotel/casino equivalent of ‘Waterworld,’ ” Kevin Costner’s big-budget film bomb of 1995. Instead, the brokerage rates Mirage a “buy” based on its view that “Bellagio has much more of a chance of being a ‘Titanic’ success.” That film epic, like Bellagio, also was over budget, late to open and faced a bevy of skeptics, Prudential notes.