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Boyd Gaming shared details of a solid if unspectacular second-quarter earnings report for 2024 on Thursday. The details of the updated financials for the company and comments from officials both did little to either energize or stymie rumors that the company is intent on acquiring Penn Entertainment.
Total revenues were up about 5.3% compared to the second quarter of 2023. That growth was somewhat due to an even more substantial increase in revenues from Boyd Interactive.
Boyd Q2 earnings show steady growth
No analysts are raving in a positive manner about the second quarter of 2024 for Boyd, but it was still a three-month period that many companies would like to have had. Net income dropped around 27.4% year-over-year, partially due to a 9.2% increase in operating expenses compared to Q2 2023.
At the same time, gaming revenue from Boyd’s brick-and-mortar facilities held steady. Revenue from Boyd Interactive was the hero of the quarter in terms of annual growth.
Boyd’s digital gaming operations and its share in FanDuel brought in more than $129.9 million during the quarter, an impressive 34.6% uptick from Q2 2023’s $85 million.
Furthermore, Boyd Interactive’s net income for Q2 2024 was almost $17.3 million, representing a gain of 21.4% from the same period last year. Another solid quarter for Boyd could fuel rumors that the company is looking to expand through acquisitions or mergers.
However, Boyd officials on the earnings call far from foreshadowed any pending moves in that regard.
Boyd officials walk fine line in expansion discussion
Recently, there have been rumors involving Boyd acquiring Penn Entertainment, whether on its own or in conjunction with FanDuel parent company Flutter Entertainment. None of those companies have yet confirmed any discussions toward that end, and that’s still the case after Boyd’s earnings call.
At no time during the call did anyone from Boyd even mention Penn. Boyd President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Smith did comment on the general subject of acquisitions and mergers, however.
“We’ve always been willing, it’s not news, to take a hard look at opportunities that arise.
“As we talk or think about kind of OpCo/PropCo, we still prefer from an M&A standpoint to buy WholeCo assets. That is more difficult today because most assets are part of an OpCo/PropCo structure. And so, we’re certainly willing to do that.
“I would say that we’re pleased with where Body Interactive is, in terms of its growth and where it is and kind of our expectations, operating well in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, growing the business. I don’t see any material M&A on the horizon to all of a sudden have that grow in any significant fashion.”
These responses are completely within the realm of what was expected from Smith in this regard. Tipping Boyd’s hand in public could disrupt any closed-door negotiations ongoing and if there is no serious conversation happening, there’s little upside to stating that definitively right now.
Boyd is definitely in a position to make something happen in regard to taking on Penn’s gaming operations. Whether it will do so soon or at any point in the future is still uncertain.
