Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) reported Q3 EPS of $0.38, $0.07 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.45. Revenue for the quarter came in at $789.7 million versus the consensus estimate of $808.18 million.

Mr. Wilmott continued, “On October 15, we completed our acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment. This transformational merger further enhances Penn National’s position as North America’s leading regional gaming operator, and expands our diverse portfolio to 40 gaming, entertainment and racing properties in 18 jurisdictions, with more than five million active customers in our player rewards database. The acquisition is expected to be substantially accretive to Penn National’s free cash flow per share in the first year after closing, and we are expecting to achieve a run rate of more than $30 million of our two-year, $100 million cost synergy target by the end of the fourth quarter. We remain highly confident in our ability to realize all of our identified cost synergies, and we expect to generate new revenue synergies through leveraging one of the industry’s largest active player databases to take advantage of the continued expansion of sports wagering, iGaming, and our social gaming platform,” said Mr. Wilmott.

“With the expected significant free cash flow to be generated from our expanded base of operations, we are well-positioned to embark on an active leverage reduction program while pursuing accretive strategic growth investments, as well as evaluating opportunistic returns of capital to shareholders through our current share repurchase authorization, which has approximately $75 million remaining through next February.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Penn National Gaming (PENN) click here.