Pinnacle Entertainment 3Q loss narrows, shares up

LAS VEGAS -- Shares of Pinnacle Entertainment hit annual highs Wednesday after the casino operator halved its losses for the third quarter and beat Wall Street expectations.

The company lost $358 million, or a penny per share, compared with $790 million, or a penny per share, a year ago. The company took a bigger loss from discontinued operations last year, which cause the per-shares results to even out. Adjusted income per share, which takes out some expenses, sold properties and other one-time items, rose 20 percent to 30 cents per share.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $304.2 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet, who tend to strip out one-time items from their estimates, expected a profit of 21 cents per share on revenue of $306.4 million.

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. owns and runs a total of seven casinos, in Louisiana, Missouri, and Indiana, as well as a racetrack in Ohio. It is also redeveloping River Downs in Cincinnati, Ohio, and holds a minority stake in Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd., an international development and real estate company currently developing Vietnam's first large-scale resort.

Shares rose 8 percent, or 96 cents, to $12.73 in afternoon trading. The stock earlier hit a 52-week high of $13.