Everi Holdings reports first profitable quarter in three years

Casino technology provider Everi Holdings returned to profitability for the first time in three years in 2018’s first quarter, beating analysts expectations, the company reported Monday.

Las Vegas-based Everi also announced that it would take advantage of favorable market conditions to reprice a term loan to lower interest costs and its cost of capital.

The company reported a 9.9 percent increase in revenue to $111 million and a 7.7 percent increase in adjusted cash flow to $58 million for the quarter that ended March 31. Revenue and the company’s 6-cents earnings per share eclipsed Wall Street analysts’ average expectations of $106.9 million revenue and a loss of 1 cent per share.

“These results provide very clear and compelling evidence that we have transformed Everi into a growth company,” Everi President and CEO Michael Rumbolz said in a conference call with investors Monday.

Rumbolz cited several growth statistics achieved during the quarter, including record growth in its games installation base.

The company operates in two segments — Growth and Payments — with classic mechanical reel games, video reel games, wide-area progressive games and slot tournament systems as well as casino payment software and hardware.

Rumbolz said the company had its highest quarterly cash flow for its payments segment in more than nine years, its highest year-over-year growth in daily win per unit and the highest quarterly average sales price of a unit since the company completed its acquisition of Multimedia Games Holding Co. in December 2014, when Everi was known as Global Cash Access.

The surprising earnings results came less than two weeks after Zacks Investment Research downgraded Everi from a “hold” to a “sell” recommendation in a research report.

Everi shares closed up 23 cents a share, 3.3 percent, to $7.10 a share in light trading Monday. After hours, the issue continue to climb 34 cents a share, 4.8 percent, to $7.44.

In February, Jefferies Group issued a report projecting an $11-a-share price target while Telsey Advisory Group targeted a $10-a-share price.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.