Earnings season kicks off without much enthusiasm

Publicly traded companies in the bruised and battered gaming industry begin reporting their quarterly earnings this week for the three-month period from January to March.

Other than a few exceptions, it isn’t going to be pretty.

“We expect more disappointing results from the Las Vegas Strip operators,” Janney Montgomery Scott gaming analyst Brian McGill told investors this morning. “While we think Macau has trended better than the Las Vegas Strip, but we think consensus estimates are too high for the group.”

Slot machine maker WMS Industries kicks off the reporting period this afternoon. Slot machine giant International Game Technology and regional casino operator Penn National Gaming are set to report Thursday.

“Our top pick heading into gaming earnings season is WMS, as we believe the company can beat the street earnings estimate for the quarter,” McGill said. “We expect the regional casino operators to broadly outperform the Las Vegas Strip operators, and we believe Penn is the best name to play in the casino operator group.”