{"id":322552,"date":"2024-06-13T18:15:43","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T23:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=322552"},"modified":"2024-06-14T09:26:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:26:02","slug":"light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shares of Light &Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) perked up a bit during Thursday\u2019s after-hours trading session after the slot machine manufacturer announced a $1 billion share repurchase program.<\/p>\n

\"Light
Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson. The company announced a $1 billion share buyback plan on Thursday. (Image: LinkedIn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The newly announced buyback plan replaces a previously deployed $750 million repurchase effort that was scheduled to expire next February.<\/p>\n

As of June 13, 2024, the Company has exhausted the full $750 million share repurchase authorization and purchased 11.2 million common shares, or 11.5% of shares outstanding at the inception of the program. The average purchase price of $66.72 per share represents a 28% discount to today\u2019s closing price of $92.35,\u201d according to a statement issued by the Las Vegas-based company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shares of Light & Wonder are higher by 12.47% year to date, and 39.5% over the past year. Whether or not those performances are the results of the $750 million buyback effort isn\u2019t clear, but those repurchases likely helped the gaming device maker rank as one of the best-performing gaming equities<\/a> over those periods.<\/p>\n

Why Light & Wonder Buyback is Meaningful<\/h2>\n

Companies aren\u2019t legally obligated to execute announced buyback schemes and they have the flexibility<\/a> to repurchase some, but not all, of the announced dollar amount.<\/p>\n

\n

In the case of Light & Wonder, the freshly revealed $1 billion repurchase program could prove meaningful because the company exhausted the aforementioned buyback plan, and did so nine months before it expired, signaling a clear commitment to buying its own shares.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOur prior program was an effective value creation tool and moving forward the new program will allow us to deliver further value to our shareholders while underscoring our commitment to driving profitable growth and upside beyond 2025,\u201d said CFO Oliver Chow in the statement.<\/p>\n

Companies execute share buybacks at various times on the open market, but in a hypothetical example, Light & Wonder could retire more than 10 million shares if it spent $1 billion on repurchases in a single day based on the stock\u2019s Thursday closing price of $92.35.<\/p>\n

Light & Wonder Financial Outlook Firm<\/h2>\n

In January, Light & Wonder reiterated a 2025 consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) forecast of $1.4 billion<\/a>, which CEO Matt Wilson reiterated in the press release detailing the buyback.<\/p>\n

\n

The company\u2019s efforts to pare leverage have also been paying off as highlighted by the aforementioned share price performances. That provides flexibility regarding returning capital to investors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cGiven the continued momentum in the business, and our March 31, 2024, net debt leverage ratio at the middle of our target range of 2.5 – 3.5x, we have significant optionality with regards to capital allocation,\u201d added Chow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shares of Light &Wonder (NASDAQ: LNW) perked up a bit during Thursday\u2019s after-hours trading session after the slot machine manufacturer announced a $1 billion share repurchase program. The newly announced buyback plan replaces a previously deployed $750 million repurchase effort that was scheduled to expire next February. As of June 13, 2024, the Company has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":236920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,81886,69293,22988,16693],"tags":[81903,23,81890,82927,82041],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLight & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan.\" \/>\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-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-06-13T23:15:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-14T14:26:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MW.jpg\" \/>\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\/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-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/\",\"name\":\"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MW.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-13T23:15:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-14T14:26:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Light & Wonder Unveils $1 Billion Share Buyback Plan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/light-wonder-unveils-1-billion-share-buyback-plan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MW.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MW.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson. 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