Brightstar Lottery PLC (NYSE:BRSL) reported fourth-quarter results on Tuesday that beat analyst expectations on earnings, although revenue came in slightly below forecasts, sending the stock modestly higher in premarket trading.
The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.36, exceeding consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.08. Revenue totaled $668 million, narrowly missing analyst expectations of $668.4 million.
Shares gained around 1% ahead of the market open following the announcement.
Quarterly revenue increased 3% year over year from $651 million, supported by 3.5% same-store sales growth driven primarily by strong U.S. multi-state jackpot activity and continued expansion of iLottery offerings.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 5% to $304 million from $290 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, benefiting from improved profit conversion tied to elevated jackpot activity in the U.S. and cost efficiencies achieved through the company’s OPtiMa program.
“Better-than-expected fourth quarter revenue and profit growth reflect the value of our diverse portfolio across geographies and games,” said Vince Sadusky, CEO of Brightstar. “2025 was a transformational year for us. We executed major strategic priorities, including selling IGT Gaming and increasing capital returns to shareholders.”
For full-year 2025, Brightstar reported revenue of $2.51 billion, broadly unchanged from the prior year, while adjusted EBITDA declined 4% to $1.12 billion from $1.17 billion.
The company completed the divestiture of IGT Gaming on July 1, 2025, generating approximately $4.1 billion in net cash proceeds that were primarily used to reduce debt.
Net debt decreased to $2.7 billion from $4.8 billion at the end of 2024, improving leverage to 2.4x from 4.1x. During fiscal 2025, Brightstar returned more than $1 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. The board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, an increase of $0.01 from the previous quarter.
Looking ahead, Brightstar guided fiscal 2026 revenue to a range of $2.50 billion to $2.55 billion, with the midpoint of $2.525 billion slightly above analyst expectations of $2.50 billion. The company also projected adjusted EBITDA of $1.16 billion to $1.19 billion and expects organic growth to exceed 5%.