Wall Street thinks so. Investors went “all in” on shares of MGM Mirage on Tuesday, the day after Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. disclosed that he wants to buy two of the hotel and gaming company’s prime Las Vegas assets.

MGM Mirage’s stock zoomed more than 27 percent despite few specifics from the billionaire investor concerning his plans. Other gaming stocks rallied as investors bet that Kerkorian was onto something.

“Kirk’s move is a public testament that he believes MGM’s stock is undervalued, and it’s valued similarly to the other casino stocks,” said analyst Robert LaFleur of Susquehanna Financial. “So if he thinks MGM is undervalued, then everybody else must be undervalued, too.”

One thing’s for certain: The flurry of excitement beefed up Kerkorian’s winnings. The jump in MGM Mirage’s stock of US$17.03 to US$79.98 added about US$2.7 billion to the value of Tracinda’s stake in the company.

Exactly what Kerkorian is planning isn’t known. Beverly Hills-based Tracinda said in a regulatory filing Monday that it wanted to start talks with MGM Mirage to buy the upscale Bellagio casino-resort and the CityCenter development, a US$7 billion mega-resort scheduled to open in late 2009.

Tracinda said the deal would be part of a strategic restructuring of its 56 percent stake in MGM Mirage, which owns 23 casino-resorts worldwide, including half of the Vegas strip. That “appears to suggest a wider range of possibilities,” wrote J. Cogan, an analyst at Banc of America Securities, in a research report.

MGM Mirage said its board would “begin its review” of Tracinda’s filing after its annual shareholders meeting in Las Vegas Tuesday and would “respond in due course.” Chief Executive Terry Lanni didn’t accept questions about the matter, and the board was still meeting behind closed doors late in the day.

Representatives of MGM Mirage and Tracinda did not return calls seeking comment.

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