Everi Holdings surprises Wall Street with record 1Q revenue, profit

Las Vegas-based Everi Holdings Inc. continued to surprise analysts, posting record first-quarter revenue and earnings.

“Overall, 2019 is off to the solid start we anticipated and as a result, we remain on track to achieve our full-year expectation for adjusted cash flow of between $252 million to $255 million,” Everi President and CEO Michael Rumbolz said earlier this week. “We also continue to expect that free cash flow will approximately double compared to the nearly $25 million in free cash flow generated in 2018.”

The company reported net income of $5.9 million, 8 cents a share, on revenue of $123.8 million for the period that ended March 31. That compares with net income of $4.6 million, 6 cents a share, on revenue of $111 million for the same period a year earlier.

A survey of Wall Street analysts anticipated earnings per share of 2 cents. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus earnings estimates four times.

Rumbolz said the company’s investment in new cabinet displays for its core games resulted in record sales of new units for the quarter. Analyst Todd Eilers of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming noted in a report to investors that Everi had four of the top 10 games in the Eilers-Fantini Monthly Game Performance Report for March, including three branded “Shark Week”-themed games.

“We continue to believe Everi has a strong lineup of premium games slated to hit the market in 2019 and we look for healthy growth in the company’s premium install base throughout 2019,” Eilers said in the report.

The company’s financial technology division also experienced growth with Everi selling the highest number of cash advance kiosks in 14 quarters as the company begins to realize an expected uptick in unit replacements.

Everi stock finished the week strong with a 2-cent, 0.2 percent increase to $10.28 a share on above-average trading volume. Prior to posting earnings, the issue had dipped to as low as $9.34 a share.

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