Casino supplier International Game Technology of Reno on Tuesday said business is picking up as it reported higher sales in the fiscal third quarter and boosted its full-year profit outlook.
The company said that for its third quarter ended June 30, revenue of $489 million was up from $475 million in the year-ago quarter.
The slot machine and gaming systems maker said it earned $86.9 million, or 29 cents per share, in the quarter, down from $92.1 million or 31 cents in the 2010 quarter.
Factoring out special items, income from continuing operations in this year’s third quarter was $121.7 million, up from $96.2 million one year ago.
Revenue increased thanks to a 7 percent increase in slot machine sales, to 8,900 units in the quarter.
The increase came mainly from sales of replacement machines to U.S. casinos, as well as improved sales in Latin America.
CEO Patti Hart said the third quarter sales "demonstrate the positive momentum generated by our new games, platforms and internal process improvements."
With plenty of cash on hand to spend — $401 million — the company in June announced plans to buy back up to $500 million of its stock. During the quarter, IGT repurchased 1.5 million shares of common stock at an average price of $16.25 per share for a cost of $25 million.
IGT, which has about 900 employees in Las Vegas and major operations in Reno, also said it’s boosting its fiscal year 2011 guidance for adjusted earnings from continuing operations to a range of 89 cents to 93 cents per share.
That’s up from previous guidance of 84 cents to 90 cents.