IGT bullish following first quarterly report

Amid the broiling shareholder issues going down at International Game Technology (IGT), the firm reported strong first quarter results in an industry update this week.

Key performance highlights include:

–   Total revenues increased 19 percent to $530 million
–   North America product sales revenue increased 54 percent
–   GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations increased 41 percent to $0.24
–   Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 65 percent to $0.28
–   Sold 5,100 North America replacement units, up 82 percent
–   Social gaming revenues increased 15 percent sequentially from the fiscal fourth quarter of 2012

“Our robust first quarter results – 19 percent revenue growth and a 65 percent increase in adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations – provide a great start toward what we expect will be our fourth consecutive year of double digit growth in adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations,” said Patti Hart, chief executive officer of IGT.

“We believe our strong performance demonstrates that our strategy is working and that IGT is moving in the right direction. Through the remainder of fiscal 2013, we intend to build on this momentum by leveraging our core business, distributing our best-in-class content more broadly, and returning capital to shareholders.”

The revenue increase of 19 percent was largely attributed to growth in IGT’s North America product sales and its interactive division.

Key performance highlight in IGT Interactive include:

– Interactive revenues of 320 percent to $52.9 million (Q1/2011: $12.6 million) of which;

– social gaming contributed $41.3 million
– IGTi contributed $11.6 million, a decline of 8 percent compared to Q1/2011.

– Consolidated Interactive gross margin of 58 percent (Q1/2011: 52 percent) of which;

– social gaming – 60 percent
– IGTi – 51 percent, down 2 percent (Q1/2011: 52 percent)