Investment Q&A

Q: Reuters is reporting that BAM is buying SGMS
But I see no press release from BAM, do you ?

Q: What are your current thoughts on this company? Buy, sell, hold? Thank you.

Q: Hi 5i team,

There are no questions on SGMS (Scientific Games) to date so I'll be the first. :)
Was watching BNN today and a guest talked about Pollard Banknote (PBL) which I have on my watchlist...it is a thin trader so I have to be patient to accumulate. He also indicated PBL has about 20% market share (of instant lottery tickets) but SGMS has about 70% market share. The latter comment got my attention.
Wrt SGMS, from your web site Companies page, the QTR1 and QTR2 estimates have really come down in the last 30-90 day period and thus so has the FY1 (12/19) estimate. Can you explain why these numbers have been reduced so much from 60 days ago? Was their prior quarter a huge miss and thus analysts readjusted their expectations?
The only negatives I could see from their last released Q4 and FY18 report was "Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities decreased to ($9.8) million from $118.1 million in the year ago period, driven primarily by making a $151.5 million payment to resolve the Shuffle Tech legal matter." and "Net loss was $352.4 million compared to a net loss of $242.3 million a year ago, driven by $253.4 million in restructuring and other charges primarily consisting of the $151.5 million payment to resolve the Shuffle Tech legal matter and $27.5 million for contingent consideration associated with the higher-than-expected results from the 2017 acquisition of Spicerack."

There is also now quite an EPS increase expected in 2020, again from the 5i Companies page. Does this seem like a good buying opportunity given the FY2(12/20) expectations vs FY1(12/19)? (I get a mixed message from their key ratios from the 5i Companies page.)
I see the stock popped 8% today (6/3) albeit it has gone from $60 to $20 since May 2018...so quite the drop.
How would you rate SGMS vs PBL within this industry?
Are SGMS's troubles now behind it? Or is it basically a show me story now to get back investors confidence?
Is one a buy vs the other in a diversified portfolio?

Cheers,
Steve in Ottawa