Bally earnings top analysts’ estimates

Bally Technologies Inc. on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates, because of higher slot and video machine sales and revenues from software, service and maintenance contracts.

The Las Vegas-based gambling equipment and service provider posted net income of $24.2 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $27.3 million, or 49 cents per share, for the same period last year.

Revenues in the second quarter increased 15 percent to $210 million compared with $183 million last year.

Eleven analysts polled by Yahoo Finance estimated second-quarter earnings of 51 cents per share on revenue of $203.3 million.

The company also continued its stock buyback program in the second quarter, purchasing 330,000 shares for $10 million. Neil Davidson, Bally's chief financial officer, said the company also paid down $19 million in debt during the quarter, "which reduced our leverage ratio to below 2.0 times."

"This quarter represents the 17th quarter in a row that we have repurchased stock," Davidson said. As of Dec. 31, Bally's had $111 million available under its stock repurchase plan.

Gaming operations and systems revenue both increased during the second quarter.

Operations were up 12 percent to $86 million, compared with $77 million last year. Systems revenue jumped 16 percent to $54 million as compared with $46 million last year.

New gaming device sales increased modestly during the second quarter to 3,636 from 3,468 last year. The average selling price of a new device was $17,201, a 13 percent increase from $15,244 last year.

"Our innovative products are driving growth for all our divisions," said Ramesh Srinivasan, Bally's president and COO. "Recently released products ... positively impacted North America ship share. We again set new records in gaming operations this quarter on the continued growth of such premium games as Cash Wizard and VegasHits."

Shares of Bally Technologies gained $1.04, or 2.46 percent, to close Wednesday at $43.26 on heavy volume of almost 1.1 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. On a three-month average, the company trades 509,789 shares a day.

Bally Technologies on Wednesday issued guidance for fiscal year 2012, seeing earnings of $2.25 to $2.45 per share, compared to estimates of $2.38.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at
csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.