What Happened?
Shares of gaming company Inspired (NASDAQ:INSE) jumped 6% in the morning session after the company reported impressive fourth quarter 2024 results which beat analysts' revenue and earnings estimates.
Sales grew 2.2% from the prior year, driven by the strong Interactive business and steady growth in the Leisure segment, which saw revenue climb 7%. However, Gaming revenue fell slightly, and Virtual Sports was even worse as sales in the segment fell by 22%, due to challenges with a key customer. Profits were better as Adjusted EBITDA margin climbed from 30% to 37%, reflecting better cost control and improved revenue mix. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Inspired’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 11 months ago when the stock gained 11.4% on the news that the company reported fourth quarter results that blew past analysts' revenue expectations, led by strong performance in its Gaming segment. On the other hand, its EPS and operating margin fell short of Wall Street's estimates. Overall, this was a mixed quarter for Inspired Entertainment.
Inspired is up 0.1% since the beginning of the year, but at $8.84 per share, it is still trading 23.2% below its 52-week high of $11.50 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Inspired’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,344.
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