{"id":229543,"date":"2022-08-31T14:26:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T19:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=229543"},"modified":"2022-09-01T12:38:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T17:38:09","slug":"light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/","title":{"rendered":"Light &#038; Wonder CEO Transition Applauded By Analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Light &amp; Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) announced late Tuesday that Barry Cottle resigned as chief executive officer and president. He also left the company\u2019s board, with Matt Wilson stepping in as interim CEO &#8212; a change that\u2019s drawing praise from some analysts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_229544\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-229544\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-229544\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MW-142x80.png\" alt=\"Light &amp; Wonder\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-229544\"class=\"text-description\">Light &amp; Wonder Interim CEO Matt Wilson. An analyst applauded the executive transition at the company. (Image: <em>MaxBet Media<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a note to clients, Stifel analyst Jeffrey Stantial says that while the gaming device manufacturer is working with an executive search firm, Wilson is likely to be selected as the permanent CEO.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>We are not surprised to see a transition at the CEO level, as Mr. Wilson has been thought to be a candidate for the CEO role since joining LNW in 2020 given his 15+ years of experience with best-in-class competitor Aristocrat, longstanding relationships with key LNW management, Board members, and shareholders, and early work leading and stabilizing LNW&#8217;s Gaming business,\u201d wrote the analyst.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He rates the stock \u201chold.\u201d In announcing the CEO transition, Light &amp; Wonder also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-sees-70b-addressable-market-shares-soar\/\">reiterated financial forecasts<\/a> revealed at its investor day in May. The Las Vegas-based company forecast adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (AEBITDA) growth of $1.4 billion through 2025, or 15% on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis.<\/p>\n<h2>Cottle Oversaw Light &amp; Wonder Makeover<\/h2>\n<p>Cottle served as president and CEO of the gaming company since June 2018, engineering significant change in his time at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the company announced sales of its OpenBet sports wagering and SG Lottery units, which enabled the firm to slash its debt to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cuts-its-debt-burden-by-more-than-50\/\"> $4 billion from $8.8 billion<\/a>. Cottle also oversaw the transition to Light &amp; Wonder from Scientific Games.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>As a result of the debt reduction, Light &amp; Wonder reduced its net debt leverage ratio to 3.9x from 6.2x. With the addition of the term loan, the average maturity of the company\u2019s debt rises to 6.4 years. By trimming its net debt leverage to 3.9x, Light &amp; Wonder is within striking distance of its desired range of 2.5x to 3.5x.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOverall, we remain constructive on the long-term outlook for LNW, as the new highly regarded management team appears well underway on a Gaming turnaround,\u201d added Stantial. \u201cWhile recent operational changes likely position LNW for long-term success, we continue to believe it could take several quarters for momentum to build.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Debt Reduction, Digital Focus<\/h2>\n<p>Should Wilson shed the interim CEO title and occupy that role on a long-term basis, he\u2019ll likely steer Light &amp; Wonder toward more balance sheet-enhancing efforts. That&#8217;s while honing the company\u2019s focus on digital gaming.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/engine-capital-says-sciplay-doesnt-need-light-wonder-pact\/\">recently dropped a bid<\/a> to acquire SciPlay (NASDAQ: SCPL) outright, but has shown willingness for other dealmaking.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the online front, we believe LNW&#8217;s synergistic RemainCo assets and portfolio of IP position the company well to take a leading share in the high growth iGaming content opportunity. However, LNW remains in investment mode across both iGaming and SCPL, and we see it unlikely the market ascribes incremental value for long-term growth prospects in the current rising rate environment,\u201d concluded Stantial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Light &amp; Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) announced late Tuesday that Barry Cottle resigned as chief executive officer and president. He also left the company\u2019s board, with Matt Wilson stepping in as interim CEO &#8212; a change that\u2019s drawing praise from some analysts. In a note to clients, Stifel analyst Jeffrey Stantial says that while the gaming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":229544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,69293,16693],"tags":[81898,81890,82041],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Light &amp; Wonder CEO Transition Earns Praise From Analyst<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Light &amp; Wonder CEO change could be positive for company, according to analyst.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Light &amp; Wonder CEO Transition Earns Praise From Analyst\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Light &amp; Wonder CEO change could be positive for company, according to analyst.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T19:26:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-01T17:38:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MW.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/\",\"name\":\"Light & Wonder CEO Transition Earns Praise From Analyst\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MW.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T19:26:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-01T17:38:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Light & Wonder CEO change could be positive for company, according to analyst.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-ceo-transition-earns-praise-from-analyst\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MW.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/MW.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Light & Wonder Interim CEO Matt Wilson. An analyst applauded the executive transition at the company. 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An analyst applauded the executive transition at the company. 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Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. 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