Bally Technologies 4th-quarter net income jumps 54 percent, boosted by sale of Miss. casino

Bally Technologies 4Q net income jumps 54 percent

LAS VEGAS — Gaming equipment maker Bally Technologies Inc. said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter net income jumped 54 percent, helped by a gain on the sale of a casino.

But excluding the gain, Bally’s results missed analysts’ expectations as did its 2011 profit outlook. Investors sent shares lower after hours.

For April through June, Bally said net income rose to $51.0 million, or 89 cents per share, from $33.2 million, or 58 cents per share in the same period last year. Excluding a 38-cent gain on the $80 million sale of the Rainbow Casino in June and other one-time items, Bally earned 55 cents per share.

That’s a penny less than analysts expected, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue slid less than half a percent to $195.2 million from $195.9 million in the year-ago quarter, also shy of the $199.8 million that analysts predicted.

Revenue rose in the company’s gaming operations and systems divisions. But in the gaming equipment division, revenue fell 19 percent to $63.5 million. The company sold fewer gaming devices due to fewer casino openings and expansions in the quarter. Old machines in North America are also being replaced at a “sluggish” rate, the company said.

For the full year, Bally’s net income rose 9 percent to $137.5 million, or $2.38 per share, from $126.3 million, or $2.22 per share. Lower costs helped offset a 14 percent drop in revenue to $491.2 million from $568.8 million a year earlier.

Looking ahead, Bally forecast fiscal 2011 earnings of $2.05 to $2.40 per share, with results expected to be strongest in the second half of the year. That’s below the average estimate of $2.46 per share forecast by analysts. The company also forecast 2011 systems revenue of $220 million to $235 million, including maintenance revenue of $61 million to $65 million.

In after-hours trading Bally’s stock fell $1.72, or 5.5 percent, to $29.46. Earlier, shares gained 43 cents to close at $31.18.