{"id":276358,"date":"2023-06-06T15:43:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T20:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=276358"},"modified":"2023-06-06T16:51:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:51:54","slug":"light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Light & Wonder on Track for $1.4B in EBITDA by 2025 Says CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaming device manufacturer Light & Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) is on pace to reach its previously stated goal of generating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.4 billion by 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Light
The Light & Wonder logo. The company is on track to reach $1.4 billion in EBITDA by 2025. (Image: PR Newswire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CEO Matt Wilson made comments to that effect in a recent interview with Australia\u2019s CommSecTV<\/em>. Wilson, who assumed the top spot<\/a> at the slot machine maker last September, said the company\u2019s debt reduction efforts are paying off and that it\u2019s in position to take EBITDA from $913 million last year to $1.4 billion by 2025.<\/p>\n

We feel a really high level of conviction about getting there,\u201d the chief executive officer said in the interview.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shares of Light & Wonder are up 9.32% year to date and will be added to the widely followed Russell 2000 Growth Index on June 30. The company is coming off a busy May in which it commenced a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and bid anew for the 17% of social casino developer SciPlay (NASDAQ: SCPL)<\/a> it doesn\u2019t yet own.<\/p>\n

Light & Wonder Freed from Scientific Games \u2018Shackles\u2019<\/h2>\n

Until March 2022, Light & Wonder was known as Scientific Games. That iteration of the company was significantly different than today\u2019s outfit, featuring lottery and sports wagering units.<\/p>\n

Those businesses were shed<\/a> in 2021 as the company sought to streamline its operations and raise capital to reduce a previously hefty debt burden. Wilson believes the new version of the firm affords it more freedom to pursue new growth avenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question you would ask is, \u2018Why do you feel like you can do that?\u2019 For us, it\u2019s really about the fact that we had the shackles on the business back in the Scientific Games era. With all that leverage, every dollar of free cash flow went to servicing our debt and so we were underinvesting in R&D (research and development), underinvesting in capex, underinvesting in user acquisition costs in our social casino business,\u201d he said in the CommSecTV <\/em>interview.<\/p>\n

\n

The approximately $7 billion Light & Wonder raised via the sales of its lottery and sports betting tech units paid off in terms of reducing debt. Prior to those transactions, the company\u2019s leverage stood at 10.5x, but that figure has subsequently declined to 3.1x.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s allowed Light & Wonder to boost spending on research and development to around 10% of sales, up from 7%.<\/p>\n

Reaching EBITDA Goal Could Propel Shares<\/h2>\n

Light & Wonder stock is higher by 17.8% over the past year, and five of the nine analysts covering<\/a> the name rate it a \u201cstrong buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should the company reach or exceed the aforementioned EBITDA objective, that could act as a significant catalyst for a stock that\u2019s arguably undervalued today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like there\u2019s a dislocation in how the stock is priced and so we\u2019ve been active in the market with the share buyback \u2013 buying back our own stock and signaling to the market that we believe there\u2019s upside from here,\u201d added Wilson in the interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaming device manufacturer Light & Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) is on pace to reach its previously stated goal of generating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.4 billion by 2025. CEO Matt Wilson made comments to that effect in a recent interview with Australia\u2019s CommSecTV. Wilson, who assumed the top spot at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":236429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,69293],"tags":[81903,81890],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLight & Wonder Cruising Toward $1.5B In EBITDA By 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Light & Wonder is on track to meet goal of $1.4 billion in EBITDA by 2025.\" \/>\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-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Light & Wonder Cruising Toward $1.5B In EBITDA By 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Light & Wonder is on track to meet goal of $1.4 billion in EBITDA by 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-06-06T20:43:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-06T21:51:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/LNW2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1544\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Light & Wonder Cruising Toward $1.5B In EBITDA By 2025\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/LNW2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-06T20:43:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-06T21:51:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Light & Wonder is on track to meet goal of $1.4 billion in EBITDA by 2025.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-cruising-toward-1-5b-in-ebitda-by-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/LNW2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/LNW2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1544,\"caption\":\"The Light & Wonder logo. 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