Boyd Gaming Reports Q3 Revenue Growth After Adjustments

Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD ) reported third-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company's third-quarter earnings call has been provided below. This transcript is brought to you APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit for a consultation.

View the webcast at Summary Boyd Gaming's third-quarter revenues and EBITDAR were down approximately 1% on a reported basis. After adjusting for unusual items, revenue grew 2% and EBITDAR increased by 1%. The Midwest and South segment saw revenues increase by almost 3% and EBITDAR grow by 2.5%, driven by gaming revenue growth and efficient operations. The Las Vegas Locals segment faced softness in destination business, but excluding The Orleans and Suncoast, the portfolio grew revenues and EBITDAR by 3%.

The Suncoast renovation was completed, with full benefits expected in future quarters, while a similar project is planned for The Orleans. The Online segment continued to show double-digit growth, with strong contributions from Boyd Interactive and the Sky River Casino. Investments in property improvements and new projects in Virginia, Illinois, and Louisiana are ongoing, with a focus on long-term growth and maintaining shareholder returns through buybacks and dividends. Management reiterated confidence in the strength of its diversified business model and the Las Vegas economy, despite current pressures on destination business.

Full Transcript OPERATOR Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. The Boyd Gaming call will begin momentarily. Thank you for your patience.

David Strau (Vice President of Corporate Communications) Good afternoon and welcome to the Boyd Gaming third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. This is David Strau, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Boyd Gaming. I will be the moderator for today's call, which we are hosting on Thursday, October 22, 2026. At this time all lines are in listen-only mode.

Following our remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star then zero for the operator. Our speakers for today's call are Keith Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Josh Hershberg, Chief Financial Officer. Our comments today will include statements that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

All forward-looking statements in our comments are as of today's date and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. There are certain risks and uncertainties, including those disclosed in our filings with the SEC, that may impact our results. During our call today we will make reference to non-GAAP financial measures.

For a complete reconciliation of historical non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures, please refer to our earnings press release and our Form 8-K furnished to the SEC today, both of which are available at investors.boydgaming.com. We do not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures due to our inability to project special charges and certain expenses. Today's call is being webcast live at boydgaming.com and will be available for replay in the Investor Relations section of our website shortly after the completion of this call. So with that, I would now like to turn the call over to Keith Smith.

Keith Smith (President and Chief Executive Officer) Thanks, David, and good afternoon, everyone. Our third quarter performance reflects the benefits of our diversified business model, the ongoing strength of our core customer, and the appeal of the property investments we've been making across our portfolio. For the quarter, our Midwest and South properties delivered another solid performance, with revenue and EBITDAR growth reflecting the consistent strength of this segment. In Las Vegas, play from local residents remained strong.

However, this trend was offset by increased softness in destination business to Las Vegas, primarily at The Orleans, and construction disruption at the Suncoast. In our online segment, Boyd Interactive once again contributed double-digit revenue and EBITDAR growth, and we continued to benefit from the strong performance of Sky River Casino, driving increased management fees in our managed business. Companywide revenues and EBITDAR were down approximately 1% in the third quarter on a reported basis. However, our third quarter results were impacted by several unusual items this year.

These items include the permanent closure of Sam's Town Tunica in November of 2025, the sale of Sam's Town Shreveport on August 1st of this year, higher property taxes at Kansas Star, and a reduction in the tax pass-through amounts. After adjusting for these items, companywide revenue actually grew 2% while EBITDAR was up 1%, a more accurate reflection of our performance in the third quarter. Now turning to segment results, in our Midwest and South segment, taking into account the adjustments I mentioned, revenues increased almost 3% for the quarter. Gaming revenues were up more than 2%, and EBITDAR grew nearly $5 million, or approximately 2.5%.

These results were driven by continued strength in play from both core and retail guests, including growth in unrated play. Adjusted operating margins for the quarter were 38%, consistent with our third quarter margins over the last several years. This performance demonstrates our continued ability to maintain operating efficiencies throughout the segment. During the quarter, we also benefited from the investments we have made throughout our Midwest and South portfolio.

Across the segment, we have enhanced our gaming floors, introduced new food and beverage offerings, renovated hotel rooms, and successfully completed several growth projects. These investments are delivering solid returns for our company, helping drive continued growth in play from our core and retail customers across the segment. Next, in our Las Vegas Locals segment, results in the third quarter were impacted by increased softness in destination business to Las Vegas. This impact was primarily felt at The Orleans.

Our third quarter results also reflected the final phases of our renovation project at the Suncoast. Excluding The Orleans and Suncoast, the remainder of our Las Vegas Locals portfolio grew both revenues and EBITDAR 3%, consistent with recent quarters. This growth was driven by increased gaming revenue of 3.5%, with play from both core and retail customers continuing to grow, as well as strong growth in unrated play. At the end of the quarter, we completed our project to renovate and upgrade all of the public spaces at the Suncoast.

Our guests are responding enthusiastically to the improvements, further strengthening our confidence in the long-term potential of the Suncoast. The final phase of the Suncoast project is the remodel of our hotel rooms, which started late in the third quarter. This project should be completed by the first quarter of next year. We are now preparing for a similar project at The Orleans that will enhance this property's competitive positioning and appeal.

We will begin this project early next year, and we expect only minimal disruption at The Orleans, as the initial phases will be in areas that are not currently accessible to the public. Throughout this year, our Las Vegas Locals results have been supported by continued growth in play from Southern Nevada residents, and the strong underlying fundamentals of the Southern Nevada economy give us confidence these trends will continue. These fundamentals include Southern Nevada's population recently surpassing 2.4 million residents, driven by an annual growth rate that is twice the national average.

This population growth is driven by a local economy that continues to add jobs at a healthy pace, leading almost every major metro area in the country. Over the last 12 months, Las Vegas has reported the second-highest job growth rate among the nation's 30 largest metro areas. Local wage growth also continues to outpace the national average, increasing nearly 6% over the past 12 months, and Southern Nevada remains an appealing destination for new residents, offering one of the most competitive cost-of-living environments in the Western U.S. In all, we remain encouraged by the continued strength of the Las Vegas economy and its prospects for our local segment.

Moving next to downtown Las Vegas, our results for the third quarter reflect increased softness in destination business in Southern Nevada, as well as the impact of multiple storms on Hawaii during August and September. Additionally, in the second half of the quarter we saw a significant increase in Hawaiian airfares. While airfares remain elevated today, they have started to moderate. Next, our online segment continued to benefit from double-digit growth at Boyd Interactive during the third quarter.

This was the first quarter since last year's FanDuel transaction to provide comparable year-over-year results and provides a clearer picture of this segment's performance. Finally, our managed and other business delivered another quarter of strong growth, driven by increased management fees from Sky River. Sky River continues to perform at a high level, benefiting from the recent expansion project that added 400 slot machines and a 1,600-space multi-level parking structure.

With this expansion off to a strong start, work is continuing on the next phase of the project, which will add a 300-room hotel, three new food and beverage outlets, a full-service spa, and a new entertainment and events center. Once complete in 2028, we are confident this expansion will further strengthen Sky River's position as one of Northern California's most successful and popular gaming destinations. So in all, our third quarter performance was supported by the benefits of our diversified business model, the ongoing strength of our customer base, and solid returns from our property investments and capital projects.

Building on the success of our recent investments and capital projects, we continue to invest in our properties across the country. In Las Vegas, we expect to complete the remodel of 1,800 hotel rooms at The Orleans in November, followed by more than 400 rooms at the Suncoast in the first quarter of next year, and we will be introducing five new food and beverage concepts across the country in the fourth quarter alone. As we continue to enhance our existing portfolio, we are also actively building our long-term growth pipeline.

In Virginia, our resort development in Norfolk remains on time and on budget for a November 2027 opening, and we expect to celebrate the topping off by the end of this year. Once complete, this upscale resort will be a true market leader with a 65,000-square-foot casino, 200-room hotel, eight food and beverage outlets, live entertainment, and an outdoor amenity deck. It will also offer the most convenient gaming destination for many of the 1.8 million residents of the Hampton Roads region, as well as the millions of visitors who visit nearby Virginia Beach each year.

Next, in Illinois, our Paradise Casino project continues in the design phase, and we expect to begin construction late next year. Once complete, this project will transform Paradise into an all-new entertainment facility with a single-level casino floor and enhanced amenities. The new Paradise will be positioned for growth well into the future. And in Louisiana, we are planning to convert our Amelia Bell property into a land-based facility featuring a single-level gaming floor and expanded food and beverage offerings.

This project is also in the design phase, and we expect to begin construction in late 2027, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. As we continue to invest in the future growth of our business, we are balancing our capital investments with maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning significant capital to our shareholders. During the third quarter, we returned approximately $180 million to our shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends. We intend to continue targeting share repurchases of $150 million per quarter, supplemented by quarterly dividends.

In all, our third quarter results demonstrated the value of our diversified business model. In our Midwest and South segment, we continue to deliver growth across the segment. In Las Vegas, we benefited from ongoing strength in play from local residents and also completed our renovations of all public spaces at the Suncoast, positioning this property for future growth. Both our online and managed businesses continue to produce strong results, and we continue to build a strong pipeline for growth.

Building on the success of our previous growth investments at treasure chest, the mayor's, our St. Charles, and in Cadence Crossing, we are now focused on completing our market-leading resort in Virginia, which remains on track to open next year. In addition, we are moving forward with growth projects at both Paradise and Amelia Bell. And finally, our financial position remains strong, with leverage of 2.2x at the end of the quarter, supporting our balanced approach to capital allocation and positioning us to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders.

Our success is a reflection of the dedicated Boyd team members across the country and their commitment to delivering memorable experiences for our guests. I would like to thank them for everything they do for our company. Thank you for your time today. I'd now like to turn the call over to Josh.

Josh Hirsberg (EVP, CFO and Treasurer) Thank you, Keith. During the third quarter, play from both core and retail customers continued to grow. As Keith mentioned, in our Midwest and South segment, adjusted revenues for the quarter grew nearly 3% while EBITDAR grew approximately 2.5%, supported by growth in gaming revenues. And in our Las Vegas Locals segment, excluding The Orleans and Suncoast, revenues and EBITDAR each grew 3% with gaming revenue growth of 3.5%.

Increased softness in destination business to Las Vegas negatively impacted our Las Vegas Locals segment, primarily at The Orleans, and also impacted visitation to downtown Las Vegas. Despite these pressures in Las Vegas, we remain disciplined in executing our operating strategy. Excluding The Orleans and Suncoast, margins in our Las Vegas Locals segment were 47%. Even with the third quarter in each of the last two years company-wide.

Outside of the impact of destination business to Las Vegas, the remainder of our land-based portfolio across the country is performing well, and our managed and online businesses both continued to grow during the fourth quarter, contributing to the diversification of our revenues and EBITDAR. During the quarter we invested $159 million in capital expenditures, bringing our year-to-date capital expenditures to $456 million.

We now expect to spend approximately $650 million for this year, including $250 million of maintenance capital, $75 million of incremental hotel capital associated with our Orleans hotel remodel which is on schedule to be completed by the end of this year, $50 million in growth capital primarily related to completing Cadence and the design and pre-construction efforts related to our Paradise project, and finally $275 million for our casino resort development in Virginia, which as Keith mentioned, remains on schedule and on budget.

In terms of our capital return program, during the third quarter we paid $15 million in dividends and made $164 million in stock purchases representing 2 million shares. Our actual share count at the end of the third quarter was 71.2 million shares, a 9.4% reduction in our share count since the third quarter of last year. We plan to continue targeting approximately $150 million in shares per quarter, placing us on track inclusive of dividends to return more than $680 million to shareholders this year, representing approximately $9.80 per share in value for our shareholders.

Given our strong free cash flow, we are able to make capital investments and return capital to shareholders while maintaining a strong balance sheet. We ended the quarter with traditional leverage of 2.2x and lease-adjusted leverage of 2.7x. We have ample capacity available to us under our credit agreement. With our next debt maturity in December 2027, we expect to refinance that maturity later this year or in the first half of 2027.

In conclusion, our consistent operating performance, strong balance sheet and robust free cash flow position us well to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders. David, this concludes our remarks and we're now ready to take any questions. OPERATOR Thank you, Josh. We will now begin our question and answer session.

If you would like to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to withdraw your request, please press star then 2. If you're using a speakerphone, please use your handset when asking your question.

We'll now pause a moment while we compile our list of questioners. First question comes from Steve Pizzella of Deutsche Bank. Steve, please go ahead. Steve Pizzella (Analyst) Hey, good afternoon everybody and thank you for taking my questions.

For Las Vegas Locals, you outlined some good underlying growth trends ex-destination and Suncoast. Given these trends, do you think the local segment can grow next year, and are you able to quantify the estimated destination and Suncoast impact? Josh Hirsberg (EVP, CFO and Treasurer) Sure. So, Steve, I'll take the first part.

Basically, I think we believe that we could see modest growth next year in Las Vegas Locals EBITDAR.