Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of casino-game king International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) were showing "jackpot" today, rising as much as 13% in intraday trading after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings.

So what: Total revenue for IGT's second quarter was $492 million, up 1% from last year and roughly in line with Wall Street's expectations. Income from continuing operations was $0.23 on a per-share basis, up 21% from last year's adjusted number and a penny ahead of analyst estimates. Product sales picked up versus last year, but gaming operations fell slightly. With a sluggish top line, it was cost containment that drove IGT's profit gains as the costs for both product sales and gaming operations fell.

Now what: Maybe even more important was IGT's look ahead. For its full 2011 fiscal year, the company raised its earnings per share guidance from a range of $0.79 to $0.87 to a range of $0.84 to $0.90. The midpoint of the new range matches analysts' expectations. There seems to be a pretty strong business case for IGT as Las Vegas starts to show a few signs of life and international gaming markets continue to grow. Many members of The Motley Fool's CAPS community are bullish on the stock, but concerns over the valuation have left it with a rating of three stars (out of five).

Want to keep up to date on IGT? Add it to your watchlist.