Continued lottery products sales growth and a rise slot machine shipments and installations were cited by supplier International Game Technology, LLC as reasons it posted a third-quarter profit, reversing a quarterly loss a year earlier.
In a statement, IGT reported net income was $22.3 million, or 11 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, reversing a loss of $803.6 million, $3.95 a share, a year earlier.
Earnings adjusted for nonrecurring costs were 31 cents per share, topping the 28 cents-per-share forecast of seven analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research. IGT has topped Wall Street forecasts three times in the past six quarters, Zacks noted.
“Solid performance and important, long-term contracts drove very good third quarter and year-to-date results,” IGT CEO Marco Sala said in the earnings statement. “Global lottery same-store revenues for instants and draw games rose mid-single digits. The installed base of gaming machines was up, and unit shipments of gaming machines increased 10 percent.”
In a conference call announcing the earnings, Sala said demand for instant games, especially large-format tickets, continues to grow and drive his company’s North American revenue growth. Sala said a new printing press the company deployed this year drove a 20 percent increase in the number of tickets printed.
