Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL) has dipped over -5% as the company posted a slight miss for its FY25 earnings, posting profits after tax of $1.4 billion, still a 12% increase YoY, but enough to leave some investors dissatisfied.
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However, EBITDA was the metric that came in lower than anticipated, missing one forecast from Citi by around 11% – thus the sell-off on Wednesday.
To be fair, that needs to be considered in the context of a slight earnings beat, but Citi analysts were ultimately concerned by fewer new gaming users than anticipated. Aristocrat is increasingly moving into online gambling services as well as traditional physical assets.
Aristocrat CEO Trevor Croker, however, was keen to focus on the positives. “The group delivered strong revenue and EBITDA growth over the year, again benefitting from strong organic growth and an outstanding portfolio of content,” Croker said.
“This year was a period of positive transition for Aristocrat as the business aligned its portfolio to refreshed priorities while maintaining a proven approach that has delivered high-quality operational performance and superior profit growth over a sustained period.”
It adds to what is perhaps a painful year for shareholders. ALL’s YTD returns are down -11.2%, peer Lights and Wonder is up +6.7% for the year thus far.
Still, with Aristocrat paying out some $1.4 billion in dividends, it’s unlikely that an EBITDA miss will scare off the hordes for too long.
ALL last traded at $60.58/sh.
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