Significant losses for Everi Holdings and PlayAGS in August, coupled with a dip in Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.’s price, contributed to the AGEM Index’ 4.4 percent drop for the month, the Index’ largest monthly loss of 2019.
The Index was down by 21.60 points, to 473.36. Aristocrat’s 2.9 percent decrease, from AU$30.65 to $AU29.75, accounted for 9.62 points of the Index’s monthly decrease.
Overall, nine of the 13 companies tracked by Las Vegas-based financial adviser Applied Analysis for the Associated of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers reported month-over-month losses in stock price. Two of the four that saw positive changes in their stock values, the NASDAQ-listed Agilsys and the over-the-counter Galaxy Gaming, reported double-digit increases.
Galaxy Gaming was up 17.3 percent, to $1.83 a share, while Agilsys increased 11.1 percent, from $24.53 to $27.25 per share.
Konami Corp. and Ainsworth Game Technology were the other two on the positive side for August. The Tokyo-listed Konami saw a 3.8 percent increase, to ¥4,815, while the Australia-based Ainsworth increased 5 percent, from AU$0.71 per share to AU$0.74.
Those increases, however, could do little when measured against Everi Holdings’ 25.6 percent loss of share value and PlayAGS’ loss of nearly half its share price during the month. The NYSE-traded PlayAGS saw its average share price decrease 48.1 percent month-to-month, from $18.76 to $9.74. Despite an increase in revenue year-over-year, PlayAGS announced on its earnings call earlier in August that it had missed Wall Street forecasts on both earnings and revenue, citing increased operating expenses related to research and development.
The NYSE-listed Everi saw its share price drop to $8.94 from $12.01. The company is still running a net positive of 3.1 percent year-over-year.
Taiwan’s Astro Corp saw an 8.9 percent drop, from $83.70 to $76.24. The NYSE-listed International Game Technology (IGT) fell 10.3 percent to $11.98, from $13.35.
The Index’s losses reflected a wider drop in stock price on the major indices, as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 experienced monthly declines of 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. The NASDAQ fell by 2.6 percent.
