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 Multimedia Games (MGAM.DL) were no fun for investors today, falling as much as 18% after the company posted disappointing EPS guidance in its quarterly report.
So what: The maker of gaming and video-lottery machines actually beat earnings estimates in the quarter with a per-share profit of $0.32 against expectations of $0.26, while revenue was essentially in line with the consensus, growing 22% to $50.4 million. The company finally entered Nevada in 2013, the country's largest gaming market, which helped boost revenue to new records. Still, its revenue guidance for fiscal 2014 of $217 million to $223 million skewed lower than the consensus of $221.3 million, and its EPS outlook of $1.23 to $1.27 missed the Wall Street view of $1.30.
Now what: Lower projected unit sales prices seem to have put a damper on margins. Multimedia Games sees an average selling price of $16,500 to $17,500 in 2014, compared to $18,121 in 2013, due to a change in sales mix as it expects its higher-margin TournEvent units to comprise a lower percentage of units sold. Still, the company sees overall unit sales increasing 38% to 49%, and revenue growth 15% to 18%. With increases like that and gaming laws becoming looser in New York and other locales, Multimedia Games seems to have long-term steady growth ahead of it. Today's drop looks exaggerated.
