Golf Clap for Ameristar Casinos

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Ameristar Casinos (NAS: ASCA) reported earnings on Oct. 31. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), Ameristar Casinos met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped slightly and GAAP earnings per share dropped.


Gross margins expanded, operating margins dropped, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
 Ameristar Casinos reported revenue of $298.0 million. The 15 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated revenue of $300.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 2.1% lower than the prior-year quarter's $304.5 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.48. The 14 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.48 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.48 for Q3 were 14% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.56 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 49.1%, 50 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 19.2%, 90 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.4%, 80 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $292.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.37.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.20 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.13.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 194 members out of 244 rating the stock outperform, and 50 members rating it underperform. Among 75 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 67 give Ameristar Casinos a green thumbs-up, and eight give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Ameristar Casinos is outperform, with an average price target of $20.54.

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The article Golf Clap for Ameristar Casinos originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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