Golden Entertainment posted a $3.1 million net loss on revenues of $210.3 million, missing Wall Street forecasts on both.
Las Vegas-based Golden, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker GDEN, attributed the shortfalls mainly to weaker results at the Stratosphere casino hotel in Las Vegas and the company’s Nevada slot route operations.
The Stratosphere was impacted by overall softness in the Las Vegas Strip market and construction disruptions from an ongoing program of upgrades to 750 of the resort’s hotel rooms, the company said. On the plus side, the renovations, which include the addition of a new sports book, a restaurant a lounge and a tap room, will be completed early next year.
Golden also expects to close at that time on its $190 million acquisition of the Edgewater and Colorado Belle Resorts in Laughlin, Nev., which the company expects will significantly enhance its revenue profile.
Other positive developments during the quarter included a company-wide partnership with bookmaking giant William Hill to operate its race and sports books and a $25 million commitment to buy back stock.
In all, revenues in the period nearly doubled the $107.7 million realized in the third quarter of last year despite falling shy of the $215 million projected by analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research.
Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled, to $38.1 million from $15.1 million.
But the net loss, which worked out to 11 cents per share, came in sharp contrast to the $8.6 million profit (36 cents per share) posted in Q3 2017. Analysts polled by Zacks were looking for earnings of 15 cents per share. It was Golden’s fourth quarterly miss in a row.
