After this article was published Monday, comments were added from Daniel Stewart & Company.
PartyGaming is trading even with December's 211-pence high ahead of its full-yearly results, due out Wednesday.
Nearly three months on from Anurag Dikshit's decision to settle with the United States government, Party's shares are up once again on American news -- this time, because of Barney Frank's ongoing public support of Internet gambling and imminent plans to reintroduce a regulatory bill.
While trading for the current quarter is expected to absorb yet another forex blow -- exchange rates now are even less favorable, on average, than they were in the fourth quarter -- analysts with Evolution Securities believe business-to-business partnerships and new casino content are cause for second-half optimism.
"This upside, plus the potential for sector consolidation makes (debt free) Party look a better investment than most of the rest of the market," Evolution said in a note Monday.
Evolution continues to believe that a settlement with the Justice Department will attract a wider group of institutional investors -- a position it set forth in mid-December.
Acknowledging historic trends, analysts with Daniel Stewart & Company warned Tuesday, however, that "the stock is likely to react very negatively to a group statement that either does not announce a settlement with the DoJ or does not distinctly imply that a settlement is firmly in the pipeline. Conversely, a positive announcement will likely see the shares go even higher."
Group revenue for the 2008 fiscal year, as revealed recently, came in at $472.9 million, with expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of no less than $143 million.
Numis Securities is projecting profits before tax of $128.4 million.
Playtech Ltd., whose full-yearly results are due out March 19, will report annual group revenue of 111 million euros, as announced on its fourth-quarter results in January.
Evolution has forecast that Ebitda will grow 80 percent in 2009, "principally as the result of the contribution from the revenue share and license fees from William Hill."
Numis is projecting profits before tax of 74.2 million euros.
Chris Krafcik is the editor of IGamingNews. He lives in St. Louis, Mo.