Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MBT) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Mobile TeleSystems PJSC  (NYSE:MBT)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 19, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mobile TeleSystems Q4 and Full Year 2018 Financial and Operating Results Announcement and Conference Call.

I will now hand you over to your host, Polina Ugryumova, Head of IR. Madam, the floor is yours.

Polina Ugryumova -- Director, Investor Relations

Welcome everybody to today's event to discuss the Company's fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial and operating results.

As usual, I must remind everybody that except for historical information, any comments made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements. Important factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements. These, in turn, may imply certain risks, a more thorough discussion of which are available in our annual report on Form 20-F or the materials that we've distributed today.

MTS disavows any obligation to update any previously made forward-looking statements spoken on this conference call or make any adjustments to previously made statements to reflect changes in risks. Copies of the presentations and materials used and referenced in this conference call are available on our Company website.

Now, I have the pleasure of presenting MTS President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alexey Kornya.

Alexey Kornya -- Chairman of the Management Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss the Group's financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year 2018. Joining me on our call to comment on the results are Vyacheslav Nikolaev, VP from Marketing; Kirill Dmitriev, who has been recently appointed to supervise and develop our new dedicated business unit for Digital Solutions for Home; Andrey Kamensky, Vice President for Finance and Investments; Inessa Galaktionova, Vice President for Sales and Customer Service and Ilya Filatov CEO MTS Bank.

First of all it, is my pleasure to welcome a new member of our management team Inessa Galakt

Analysts Set Tutor Perini Corp (TPC) Price Target at $22.80

Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.80.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TPC shares. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Tutor Perini from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 16th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Tutor Perini from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp set a $24.00 price target on shares of Tutor Perini and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Tutor Perini from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, February 1st. Finally, MKM Partners set a $27.00 price target on shares of Tutor Perini and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 28th.

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Shares of TPC stock opened at $19.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The company has a market cap of $945.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Tutor Perini has a 12-month low of $14.66 and a 12-month high of $23.40.

Tutor Perini (NYSE:TPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 27th. The construction company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.19. Tutor Perini had a net margin of 2.58% and a return on equity of 4.35%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tutor Perini will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Tutor Perini news, major shareholder N. Tutor Separate Prope Ronald sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.13, for a total transaction of $1,209,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,536,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,305,374.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dale Anne Reiss sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.78, for a total transaction of $63,120.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $493,361.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 24.70% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TPC. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Tutor Perini by 25.6% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 489,582 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,204,000 after buying an additional 99,903 shares during the last quarter. Falcon Point Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Tutor Perini by 11.3% during the third quarter. Falcon Point Capital LLC now owns 28,385 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 2,885 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Tutor Perini during the third quarter worth $427,000. DDD Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Tutor Perini by 1.1% during the third quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 497,015 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,344,000 after buying an additional 5,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Bank of Australia bought a new stake in shares of Tutor Perini during the third quarter worth $261,000. 91.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tutor Perini Company Profile

Tutor Perini Corporation, a construction company, provides diversified general contracting, construction management, and design-build services to private customers and public agencies worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Civil, Building, and Specialty Contractors. The Civil segment engages in the public works construction, replacement, and reconstruction of infrastructure, including highways, bridges, tunnels, mass-transit systems, and water management and wastewater treatment facilities.

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MISTRAS Group Inc (MG) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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MISTRAS Group Inc  (NYSE:MG)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 12, 2019, 9:00 a.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Liz, and I'll be your event manager today. We'll be accepting questions after management's prepared remarks.

One moment, please, while I pass the call over to MISTRAS Group Director of Marketing Communication.

Nestor S. Makarigakis -- Group Director, Marketing Communications

Welcome to the MISTRAS Group conference call for its fourth quarter and full-year results for 2018. My name is Nestor Makarigakis. Participating on the call for MISTRAS will be Dennis Bertolotti, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ed Prajzner, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, as well as Dr. Sotirios Vahaviolos, Executive Chairman; and Jon Wolk, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

I want to remind everyone that remarks made during this conference call will include forward looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from those projected. Some of those factors that can cause actual results to differ are discussed in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other reports filed with the SEC.

The discussion in this conference call will also include certain financial measures that were not prepared in accordance with US GAAP. Reconciliation of these non U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure can be found in the tables contained in yesterday's press release and in the company's related current report on Form 8-K. These reports are available at the company's website in the Investors section and on the SEC's website.

I will now turn the conference over to Dennis Bertolotti. Dennis?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Nestor, and good morning, everyone. During today's call, we will give you an update on MISTRAS' business performance, financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2018, as well as give you our outlook for 2019.

Full-year revenues were a record, and up 6% over 2017 to $742.3 million. Revenue growth was driven by a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, which was about 1.5%, but was actually much stronger, considering we overcame the non-renewal of a large contract and divested operations.

Margin performance was even stronger, as the revenue we added organically and through acquisitions has been from more profitable operations, which is a corporate priority as we evolve our business. Adjusted EBITDA was up 15% for the year, with adjusted EBITDA margin expanding nicely from a year ago. This was driven by an expansion in gross margins, which have been steadily increasing over the course of fiscal 2018 and reached the three-year high of 28.9% in the fourth quarter.

Ed will go through the detail. We had several and frequent charges in the fourth quarter, which was a major reason adjusted EBITDA was slightly below our 2018 guidance.

While our financial performance was strong, more importantly, we made significant progress toward realizing our vision, executing on our strategy to achieve more sustainable growth, both organically as well as from acquisitions, as well as leveraging our increased revenue to grow earnings even faster. The core business is strong. We were able to grow revenues by $40 million over the course of the year despite absorbing a $30 million reduction in revenues, commencing back at the beginning of the second quarter in 2018.

I think this speaks volumes to our strong product offering and industry relationships, and clearly illustrates that our Services remain in great demand and we continue to improve our capabilities. This includes new digital initiatives that leverage technology to improve performance and quality while reducing costs. From tablets in the field to Onstream centralized data analytics facility, we are finding ways to leverage technology to provide our customers with more value and in a more rapid manner.

International is also doing very well. Aerospace is a growing market, and our aerospace business is proceeding on plan and expanding, with new parts and added volume as we deploy new capital expenditures. We also expect to see a pickup from West Penn volumes in the US market.

Products and Systems revenues were also up for the year, again despite the loss of revenues arising from the disposition of an underperforming product line in 2018. Since acquisitions are an integral part of our growth strategy, I wanted to provide some insight as to the success we have achieved with two of the company's largest ever acquisitions.

West Penn was a strong contributor to fiscal 2018 success. Their non-destructive testing capabilities are unsurpassed, and they are a partner to many companies in the aerospace industry that rely upon them for the valuable service they offer. This enables them to generate margins higher than that of field operations.

Growth in the aerospace market is one of our corporate objectives, and the outlook for the industry continues to be strong, which we expect will benefit West Penn in 2019 and beyond. Onstream has only been part of the MISTRAS family for three months. However, it is already clear that this is going to be a strong pillar of our overall growth strategy.

Onstream provides a number of benefits that leverage our competitive advantages and core competencies, while offering complementary capabilities that will facilitate rapid expansion into adjacent markets. Their strong presence in in-line inspection provides a strong foundation within the midstream oil and gas market, which is significantly less volatile than our traditional base.

As one example, at a recent tradeshow, the MISTRAS Onstream team generated a significant number of new business opportunities through introductions of our in-line inspection capabilities to existing midstream MISTRAS customers. Our most recent acquisition Onstream is also expanding their capabilities, and is now in the process of taking orders using their new 16-inch tool. We are also commencing commercialization of their 20-inch tool, with their larger 24-inch tool expected to be ready later in the year.

The addition of three new inspectable pipe diameters means our addressable market will have been dramatically increased. Perhaps, the most exciting aspect of the Onstream acquisition is their innovative application of advanced digital technology. This fits hand in glove with our vision for the NDT industry, which we see evolving from its traditional roots in inspecting and reporting, to its role as a strategic activity for anticipating and predicting asset risk.

This is a key element of our MISTRAS digital solution as well, as we've been mentioning over the past year. We'll have more to share regarding our specific ongoing pilots over the next few quarters. Onstream is well down the digital road and is already able to digitally send data from the field to their central lab in Calgary for reporting and analysis.

Our Plant Condition Management Software, or PCMS, is undertaking similar technology applications. This is what the industry wants and this is where we are headed, is being driven not only by a recognition of how this technology can reduce costs over the long term and also by increasing regulation that is consistently raising asset integrity standards.

Getting better information and faster, that can help predict when and to what degree an asset may be at risk is an attractive value proposition. We already have a solid foundation and over the next several years, you'll see us continue to enhance and expand this capability across the many vertical industries we serve. This will be a much faster-growing market, and MISTRAS intends to be at the forefront of this evolution.

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Ed for a detailed review of the financials.

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Thank you, Dennis. It was a very good operational year for MISTRAS Group, as the various initiatives and programs implemented over the year resulted in record revenues and significant margin expansion across all segments.

Looking first at results for the year. On a consolidated basis, revenues were up 6% to a record $742 million, driven by a similar 6% revenue increase in our largest segment, Services, which comprises 77% of our total 2018 revenue. More broadly, the increase was due to both, acquisitions and organic growth, which was up approximately 1.5%, more than earning back the $30 million of revenue losses Dennis mentioned.

Consolidated gross profit for the full year was $208 million, about 11% higher than the prior year. Consolidated gross margin for the full year was 28%, compared with 26.8% in the prior year, an increase of 120 basis points. Reflecting the broad-based improvement across the company, for the year, all three segments expanded their gross margin and grew their gross profits.

Margin expansion reflects a more favorable service and product mix, which in turn reflects a more disciplined growth strategy, selective pruning of underperforming operations and contracts, and an acquisition strategy focused on higher-margin businesses.

Adjusted EBITDA was up 15% for the full year to $73.5 million, with all of our segments again generating a year-on-year increase. As Dennis mentioned, we did have a number of infrequently occurring items during the fourth quarter, particularly in late December, which reduced adjusted EBITDA by approximately $2.5 million. This included operating items, such as an earlier than anticipated completion of a turnaround and an unexpected weather-related slowdown, as well as non-operating item such as Onstream-related financing costs and other legal and statutory expenses.

The company generated $41.7 million of cash flows from operating activities and $20.5 million of free cash flow for the full-year 2018. As anticipated, we had a strong improvement in cash flows in the fourth quarter relative to the first nine months of 2018, with $17.5 million of cash from operations and $12.1 million of free cash flow generated during the fourth quarter of 2018. This positive trend has continued into the beginning of 2019, driven by working capital reductions. We foresee continued improvement throughout 2019.

Looking at the fourth quarter, we finished the year strong. Although revenues were somewhat lower than a year ago, we were comping against Services strong year ago quarter. More importantly, gross margins expanded to 28.9%, the highest quarterly margin in three years.

Looking more closely at our segments. Services revenue decreased by 4% in the fourth quarter. This was primarily due to Services comparing against a very strong year ago quarter, wherein customers were completing deferred maintenance. For the year, revenues increased by $31 million or 6%, attributable to acquisition as well as modest organic growth.

If you consider this, $30 million of revenue growth was accomplished after essentially backfilling $30 million of revenue from a contract that had been part of our underlying revenues in 2017. You can see why we believe Services had a very strong year and remains one of the industry's premier providers.

Services segment turned in a gross profit margin of 27.4% for the quarter and 26.4% for the year, improvements of 90 basis points and 80 basis points, respectively, compared to the same period a year ago.

Margin expansion is a key corporate strategy, and we are pleased to see margins continue to expand, driven by pruning lower-margin operations and growing higher-margin operations, including acquisitions such as West Penn and Onstream.

International revenues in the fourth quarter were down 2% from a year ago, although up in local currency. For the year, revenue increased 6%, and was due to the combination of organic growth and a favorable foreign exchange translation.

For the quarter, International reported a 30.1% gross margin, which is up 570 basis points from a year ago and a full-year gross margin of 29.6%, an increase of 260 basis points. This improvement is attributable to better manpower utilization, improved sales mix and growth in aerospace. As mentioned last quarter, the winding down of the German staff-leasing business will present a headwind to International and fiscal 2019.

Products and Systems revenues were down slightly in the fourth quarter, but were up modestly for the year, despite this segment having divested a product line earlier in 2018. Products and Systems gross margins came in at 46.5% for the fourth quarter and 45.1% for the year, improvements of 750 basis points and 300 basis points, respectively.

SG&A as a percentage of revenue was approximately 24.4% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 21.1% in the fourth quarter of 2017. There were a number of infrequent charges booked in the fourth quarter, as well as a deliberate increase in our sales and marketing investment as a strategy to accelerate growth. For the year, SG&A was 22.4% of revenues compared to 21.8% in fiscal 2017.

Outside of some nominal growth in sales and marketing, as well as an increased investment in research and development, we expect any increase in overheading (ph) to generally fall below the rate of revenue growth in fiscal 2019. Operating income was $2.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, and $22.2 million for the full-year 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $5.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2018 and $31.7 million for the full-year 2018.

GAAP net loss was $1.1 million, or $0.04 loss per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to GAAP net income of $900,000 or $0.03 per diluted share in the prior year. The loss in the current year quarter was largely due to an exceptionally high income tax rate attributable to primarily adverse items related to the Tax Reform Act of 2017.

For the year, we reported GAAP net income of $6.8 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, whereas we had a GAAP net loss in fiscal 2017 of $2.2 million or $0.08 per diluted share, primarily due to a $16 million impairment charge recognized in fiscal 2017.

On a non-GAAP basis, we had $16.1 million of net income, or $0.55 per diluted share for full-year 2018, compared to $12.7 million, or $0.43 per diluted share in the prior year period. This represents a 26.8% and 27.9% increase, respectively, in these metrics for full-year 2018 over 2017.

The company generated $41.7 million of cash flows from operating activities and $20.5 million of free cash flow for full-year 2018. For fiscal 2017, we had a positive $8 million in operating cash flow from a reduction in working capital, whereas this year, the change in working capital was a negative $9 million to cash flow.

As anticipated during our third quarter conference call, working capital did improve and was a meaningful reason cash flows from operating activities was a very strong $17.5 million for the fourth quarter 2018. We still have room for further improvement, which we expect to see throughout 2019.

The New Year is, in fact, off to a good start, with strong cash flow so far during the first quarter of 2019. Interest expense for the quarter rose to $2.4 million. Based on the debt added with the Onstream acquisition, offset by repayments we anticipate in 2019, we believe total interest expense for fiscal 2019 should be in the range of $12 million to $14 million. We closed out 2018 with $25.5 million of cash on hand compared to $27.5 million at the end of last year.

The company's net debt, defined as total debt, less cash and cash equivalence, was $265.2 million at December 31, 2018, compared with $139.3 million at December 31, 2017. This increase in net debt was primarily attributable to the Onstream acquisition, which closed during the fourth quarter of 2018.

Given our cash flow, annual cash interest expense and net debt, we believe our balance sheet is strong and will support the funding of both our organic and any acquisition growth objectives. Income tax expense was exceptionally high in 2018 due to a number of factors, the primary one being certain adverse impacts of the Tax Reform Act of 2017, which drove the rate year-to-date up to slightly over 50%. For 2019, we expect the effective tax rate to be in the range of 32% to 35%.

And with that, I will now turn the call back over to Dennis.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Ed. I will conclude with our preliminary outlook and guidance for 2019. Our North American oil and gas customers suggest that their spending in 2019 will improve over 2018. And I'm optimistic about our growing aerospace and complementary mechanical services business, and excited about our growth plans to expand further into the midstream segment by leveraging our industry experience and technological know-how.

Given the opportunities ahead, we expect to more than compensate for the known challenges and foresee on a full-year basis for 2019 an outlook with total revenues expected to be between $765 million to $785 million, adjusted EBITDA expected to be between $90 million and $93 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be up to $25 million and free cash flow expected to be between $42 million to $45 million.

Please keep in mind that our progress in year-over-year comparable won't, however, be linear throughout 2019, because of the first quarter of 2019 lapping a year ago quarter, that included more than $10 million of Services revenue from the large former customer site. And beginning late in the first quarter of 2019, we commenced the exiting of the staff-leasing business in Germany, representing a further reduction of approximately $13 million in revenue in full-year 2019.

We are nevertheless confident that we can essentially offset the earnings effect of the revenue decreases through continuing margin expansion, particularly in our Services segment, as we have demonstrated throughout 2018.

We stated at the beginning of last year in our guidance outlook for 2018 that we would offset the annualized revenue loss of $40 million that anniversaries in a few short weeks, and have net organic revenue growth for full-year 2018. I'm proud to say that we achieved and actually exceeded that goal. On the whole and over the longer term, we believe macro level economic drivers will remain positive and we are confident in maintaining our forward momentum.

We will now take your questions. Operator, please open the phone lines.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Edward Marshall with Sidoti & Company. Your line is now open.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Good morning, guys. How are you?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Great. Thanks, Ed.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

So, I wanted to ask about what the assumptions are for revenue, looking at, I guess, there is a lot rolling off, some acquisitions coming in. So, if you can kind of give us a sense as to the organic growth rate of revenue baked into your 2019 guidance, I'd appreciate that.

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Hi, Ed. It's Ed here. Yeah, there is some, if you pull off the last quarter of the troubled region and then the German staff leasing, that's about $24 million. We had that small product segment divestment as well of $3 million in the year. So if you kind of normalize that and then add in Onstream, you're looking at, our outlook has a range of maybe 2% to -- up to 4%, 5% kind of organic growth, kind of assumed in there.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Okay. Okay. So the next question is, I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks about SG&A and in the particular quarter, I mean, it was heavier than the rate for the majority of the year. What happened in Q4 and then what's the anticipation for 2019, if you can elaborate a little bit more?

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Sure. Yeah, that did go up sequentially. We were about $42 million in Q3, $44 million in Q4. As we mentioned, there was a number of infrequent items there. About a $1.5 million of that in Q4, there was -- they are not recurring. There was some non-capitalized financing costs, couple of statutory charges and some bad debt expense. We recorded about $1.5 million.

If you took that out, you could -- if you add about $42.5 million, that's a pretty good number to annualize, maybe $43 million a quarter into next year. That's pretty close to our year-to-date. Our year-to-date is 22.5%. So, that's not a bad percentage to be thinking about for '19.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

And thinking about the one stream (sic) (Onstream), were the intangibles at all in the Q4 number? I don't think it would be, maybe a couple weeks of.

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Very little. Maybe just the two weeks post the acquisition. So, there was very little activity in the P&L for '18 relative to Onstream.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

So, are you planning to materially bring other SG&A costs down to absorb some of those intangibles that might roll through on SG&A as I start to think about next year?

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

This is not so much a cost-out synergy type of acquisition that their SG&A will be additive to ours, but obviously, we're always looking to ratchet down costs and minimize the footprint. But there -- we think of their amortization clearly as being additive.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Got it. And what are you seeing from a wage inflation as the industry improves? I mean, how's wages look out as -- how are you being able to pass those wages off to customers, et cetera, through price increases?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Dennis here. It's still more regional than it is across the board. But we haven't seen any pushback from customers not willing to accept increases because the industry is actually getting pretty heavy in '19 or later half of '19. Stream is probably going to be a little bit lighter than you would see typically. It's going to be about an average spring, but we think the fall is going to be heavier.

So, customers know that there's a lot of regional fighting for labor and skilled labor size. So, they are willing to talk to us about doing a pass through on these things now that -- what they're going to do is they're going to allow it to be pass through and be pass through for the labor in Gulf Coast, west, many regions where they're getting tight.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Last, I want to follow up on the -- last statement about the spring versus the fall. Is that an anticipation of back ending their CapEx or their spend, their maintenance spend to the back half of the year to make sure that they did kind of get a wait and see throughout the year or is it just timing? Is it -- any comments that you could add to that statement about the average spring versus a heavier falling would be helpful?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I guess, comparatively, when you look at last year, I think there was a lot of catch-up activity going on, more so than this is a wider spring. It does seem to be a little bit later in the year. It does seem like it is happening more in late February and March and April. Sometimes in the year, there's a lot of activity, January, February, we're not seeing that as much. So, I don't know if that's a capital planning or it's just the way the projects are rolling out.

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Got it. Thanks very much for your comments. I appreciate it.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes.

Operator

Our next question comes the line of Tahira Afzal with KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Hi, Dennis and Ed. Hope you are well.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Morning.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Morning. So folks, as you look at Onstream and you talked a lot about the addressable market and as you bring in the wider pipe to that market, TAM is essentially going up. So, can you kind of talk about how much that addressable market is going up by, as you bring in the new tools? Is it like doubling in size over the next five years or am I being too optimistic?

Jonathan H. Wolk -- Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Hi, Tahira. It's Jon. I'll take that one. So, we have sized. We've been -- people helped us size the North American in-line inspection opportunity at roughly $0.75 billion per year. And Onstream, at the time of acquisition, probably addresses about, let's say, up to about 30% to 40% of that market and at the time of acquisition. And we believe that with the tools that Onstream is introducing to the market both in 2019, as well as on the drawing board over the next couple of years that will be able to address at least two-thirds of that market size.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Okay.

Jonathan H. Wolk -- Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

And we expect the market to grow as well.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

So, I mean, is it conceivable between this tool and your traditional business because there has been potentially some pent-up spending likely? It seems like even yourself (ph) were a little more conservative, are optimistic about the oil and gas customers picking up spending. Is it conceivable organically, we could see growth in the high single-digits for that business from a two-year to three-year perspective?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, Tahira. We're certainly playing on that. Our underwriting thesis was certainly that we believe Onstream will grow organically, at least in the high single-digits per year.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. And then just in terms of margins. Obviously, you're going to be very specialized in that business. As you cover that with a more traditional business, is there a marginal pricing opportunities for yourself?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I think there is a marginal price opportunity in there because Onstream is a terrific service provider, delivers reports to customers much sooner than at the industry standard. It is pretty nimble in terms of organizing to suit client needs and so forth, and tends to be value priced to an extent. So, there is a pricing opportunity that is implied in there, yes.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. And then just wanted to circle back on Safran. Clearly, there is Boeing been in the news with the 737 Max. I know Safran has some exposure there. Is this potentially a positive development for yourselves or will there be more testing in fuselage integrity needs are -- do you see this as net neutral to your business ?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Tahira, it's Dennis. I mean, I think it's very early from what we see, this might be more of a safety device or something other than an aerospace propulsion issue. Certainly if it became something what I've seen and engine component fail or some critical structure be part of the scenario, then absolutely more testing would be involved. Right now, it's too early to say.

I will say -- so, I mean, we're not sure on that. I will say one thing. I mean, we picked the aerospace, mechanical and pipeline markets for our growth in the near future and we see all three really still performing well. So, West Penn, Safran, and all of our aerospace growth we see as being good. Onstream fits inside the pipeline and even mechanical blowing over. So the three that's been our pillars, we still see as being very, very aggressive in the next couple of years and a chance for us to really maybe outperform a lot of what you would think in normal oil and gas or other aerospace markets, right?

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Okay. That's actually good to hear. Last question for me, Dennis. One of your peers has already started talking a bit more about taking some of the inspection tools and technologies, and applying them to the upstream space of oil and gas. And it's an area you guys doubled in. Seems from all the customer calls that I've been listening to, that's a great opportunity over there. Any thoughts about that or would you rather just digest all the initiatives that are currently in place?

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, I'm really not familiar with the one you're talking about. But what I can tell you from our point of view, we do see there is possibilities of growth for us in upstream or anywhere else in the oil and gas through our digital capabilities. We're trying to grow this digital to become a value player and find ways to save money and be more efficient.

So, I'm not sure if that's the company, if that's kind of the idea that the other company is looking at.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

That is.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

But what we are looking at is more efficient we can become and give data to them quickly and smartly and something they can react on very quick in the field versus weeks or days later so much the better. So, we definitely are going down that path. Somebody else, I can't speak to but --

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it, Dennis. That's actually helpful. Thank you.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Chip Moore with Canaccord. Your line is now open.

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

Yeah. Morning. Thanks. Hey, guys.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning, Chip.

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

I guess, on Onstream, now that you've had them for about three months or so, can you talk about accelerating their presence in the US in the sales? How do we think about investments to help accelerate that and timing?

Jonathan H. Wolk -- Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Yeah. Hi, Chip. This is Jon. We are really -- and Onstream shares our excitement in the US growth that Onstream is starting to experience now. And more importantly, the potential market that's out there. Now, Onstream really has earned its reputation and grown to its present size largely on the back of a Canadian market that is about 30% the size of the total North American market.

And as we think about the applicability of Onstream in the United States, there's lots of opportunity. What we're doing is focusing and focusing on our path to make sure we don't try to boil the ocean. But we're very excited about the uptick that we're seeing and the potential that exists.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Chip, it's Dennis. Our recent growth in PCMS and many other platforms prior to Onstream were in actually midstream. So, we have a lot of connections and customers in the US market that we always felt would be a very strategic benefit for us to help them grow in the US.

And just like, when we tried to go into Canada, it took us a while to kind of understand and know what that market is about and how to best work within it. It would take them a similar type time to understand. the US market. We have the ability to put them in every place that they need to be. Every zone that they're looking at, we have people and customers already in.

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

And Chip, it's Ed. You mentioned the investment there. We have scaled up the CapEx. We've been running at $20 million last couple of years. So, we are envisioning up to maybe $25 million this year for CapEx, fairly modest in the greater scheme, but this is not going to require a major CapEx to expand into the US.

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

Got it. That's great, guys. And maybe if I flip over the balance sheet, obviously, leverage stepped up with the deal. I think you talked about more of a focus on tuck-ins. How do we think about dry powder and pay down on the debt?

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Hey, Chip. It's Ed. We ended the year at proforma about a 3.5 leverage. We would at this point, use free cash flow in '19 to pay down the debt. So if we didn't do any acquisitions, you'd probably get to a 2.75 or so by the end of the year.

So, we've got more than enough capacity. The current facility allows us a 4.0 (ph) leverage, so we can do the tuck-ins as they come along. But we're really focusing on the business at hand, what's in front of us here and the tuck-ins, as we focus on them, will happen but the balance sheet is there if we need it.

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

That's great. And maybe one last one on the outlook. Given some of the headwinds you called out in Q1 and where we stand here halfway through March, can you talk a little bit more directionally on Q1 at least, revenues, would you expect those to be up year-over-year? Or anything you can do to help us calibrate that? Thanks, guys.

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Well, I mean, as the outlook kind of indicated, as we talked about it on the call, you're going to see kind of a growing into back end of the year. Again, we have some of that comparable challenges in the first quarter and second quarter. So, you'll see some strength into back end of the year. But we feel very good about the outlook and our ability to achieve.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Chip, it's Dennis. I think Q1 is going to be our struggle. I think two, three and four will probably come through with year-over-year growth. The percentages right now, I'm not so sure. I think they will build up from the second to the third as far as the growth year-over-year, but we think really Q1 is our really only struggle at this point.

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

That's great. Understood. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

You got it. Thank you.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions in queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back to Dennis Bertolotti for closing remarks.

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

All right. Thanks, everybody. We appreciate your interest in MISTRAS. We look forward to updating you on our next call. We'd like to thank, everyone, for listening. And have a great day. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program and you may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.

Duration: 35 minutes

Call participants:

Nestor S. Makarigakis -- Group Director, Marketing Communications

Dennis M. Bertolotti -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Edward J. Prajzner -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Edward Marshall -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Jonathan H. Wolk -- Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Chip Moore -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

More MG analysis

Transcript powered by AlphaStreet

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

Why Copart Stock Gained 15.9% in February

What happened

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) stock climbed 15.9% in February, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The automotive e-commerce company's shares rose early in the month thanks to momentum for the broader market and then got a boost following better-than-expected quarterly results.

CPRT data by YCharts.

Copart published its second-quarter results on Feb. 20, and while slowing sales growth might have raised concerns among some investors, the company's solid earnings performance and a more bullish market won out and propelled the stock's gains last month. 

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Copart's second-quarter revenue climbed 5.6% year over year to come in at $484.9 million, which fell short of the average analyst estimate (as polled by Zacks Research) of $494.3 million. However, the company's adjusted earnings per share of $0.52 beat the target by a penny and represented a 10.6% increase compared with the prior-year quarter.

The company is seeing benefits from user gains and increases for the average selling price on its platform, but decelerating revenue growth compared with the sequential quarter highlights the possibility that expansion could settle into proceeding at a slower pace going forward. 

Now what

Based on current momentum for the automotive e-commerce market, it's reasonable to expect that there's still plenty of untapped opportunity in the space, but Copart isn't the only player. It's also reasonable to expect that the market could get more competitive -- large tech platforms have already made some early moves into the space. 

Copart isn't feeling too much pressure yet and still has avenues to long-term growth, with consumers gradually trending toward online retail, improving technology, and further expansion in European and South American territories. However, the company is also currently valued for strong performance. Shares have nearly tripled over the last three years and trade at roughly 27 times this year's expected earnings. 

McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) Given $70.00 Average Target Price by Brokerages

Shares of McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) have been assigned an average broker rating score of 2.00 (Buy) from the two brokers that cover the stock, Zacks Investment Research reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company.

Brokers have set a twelve-month consensus target price of $70.00 for the company and are forecasting that the company will post $0.62 EPS for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Zacks has also given McGrath RentCorp an industry rank of 9 out of 255 based on the ratings given to related companies.

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A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Investment Research raised McGrath RentCorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Saturday, March 2nd. BidaskClub raised McGrath RentCorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 23rd.

Shares of MGRC stock opened at $58.05 on Friday. McGrath RentCorp has a 1-year low of $45.85 and a 1-year high of $68.79. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.56.

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.22. McGrath RentCorp had a return on equity of 12.61% and a net margin of 35.47%. The firm had revenue of $133.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. McGrath RentCorp’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that McGrath RentCorp will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. This is a positive change from McGrath RentCorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. McGrath RentCorp’s dividend payout ratio is 43.45%.

In other McGrath RentCorp news, VP John P. Skenesky sold 1,719 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.01, for a total value of $101,438.19. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,557.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis P. Stradford sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total value of $164,384.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,968 shares of company stock worth $448,854 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its holdings in McGrath RentCorp by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 26,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of McGrath RentCorp during the third quarter valued at $3,342,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its stake in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 207.8% during the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 11,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 45,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 10,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 885.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after acquiring an additional 21,410 shares during the last quarter. 84.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About McGrath RentCorp

McGrath RentCorp, a business to business rental company, rents and sells relocatable modular buildings, portable storage containers, electronic test equipment, and liquid and solid containment tanks and boxes in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Mobile Modular, TRS-RenTelco, Adler Tanks, and Enviroplex.

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ProShares Short QQQ (PSQ) Sees Strong Trading Volume

ProShares Short QQQ (NYSEARCA:PSQ) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 3,208,712 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 73% from the previous session’s volume of 1,858,478 shares.The stock last traded at $30.98 and had previously closed at $30.61.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PSQ. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of ProShares Short QQQ by 90.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,053,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,083,000 after purchasing an additional 976,252 shares in the last quarter. Nkcfo LLC acquired a new position in shares of ProShares Short QQQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,653,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of ProShares Short QQQ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,512,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ProShares Short QQQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,570,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of ProShares Short QQQ by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 385,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,271,000 after purchasing an additional 97,607 shares in the last quarter.

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About ProShares Short QQQ (NYSEARCA:PSQ)

ProShares Short QQQ is focused on daily investment results that correspond to the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index. The NASDAQ-100 Index represents non-financial domestic and international issues listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Fund takes positions in financial instruments (including derivatives) that in combination should have similar daily return characteristics as the inverse of the NASDAQ-100 Index.

Further Reading: No Load Funds

Traders Buy Altaba (AABA) on Weakness

Investors purchased shares of Altaba Inc (NASDAQ:AABA) on weakness during trading on Thursday. $159.41 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $57.23 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $102.18 million into the stock. Of all stocks tracked, Altaba had the 14th highest net in-flow for the day. Altaba traded down ($2.22) for the day and closed at $72.57

Separately, BidaskClub raised shares of Altaba from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Altaba presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

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A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AABA. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Altaba by 3.8% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,775,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,952,000 after purchasing an additional 64,603 shares during the period. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Altaba by 118.1% in the third quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 589,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,183,000 after purchasing an additional 319,380 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Altaba by 4.6% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 49,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Altaba by 27.7% in the third quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Altaba by 58.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.95% of the company’s stock.

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About Altaba (NASDAQ:AABA)

Altaba Inc operates as a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company in the United States. Its assets consist primarily of equity investments, short-term debt investments, and cash. The company was formerly known as Yahoo! Inc and changed its name to Altaba Inc in June 2017. Altaba Inc was founded in 1994 and is based in New York, New York.

See Also: Why are percentage decliners important?

Brokerages Expect LTC Properties Inc (LTC) Will Announce Earnings of $0.75 Per Share

Equities analysts predict that LTC Properties Inc (NYSE:LTC) will report earnings per share (EPS) of $0.75 for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Two analysts have made estimates for LTC Properties’ earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is $0.73 and the highest is $0.77. LTC Properties also reported earnings per share of $0.75 during the same quarter last year. The company is scheduled to announce its next earnings report on Wednesday, May 8th.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that LTC Properties will report full-year earnings of $3.07 per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from $3.03 to $3.12. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the firm will post earnings of $3.10 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $3.08 to $3.12. Zacks’ EPS averages are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow LTC Properties.

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A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. ValuEngine lowered LTC Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 25th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded LTC Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of LTC Properties in a research note on Thursday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of LTC Properties in a research note on Tuesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.40.

NYSE:LTC traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.92. 8,737 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 188,286. LTC Properties has a 1-year low of $34.46 and a 1-year high of $48.13. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 8.91 and a current ratio of 8.91.

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 19th.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LTC. We Are One Seven LLC acquired a new position in shares of LTC Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quantamental Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of LTC Properties during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Macroview Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of LTC Properties during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of LTC Properties by 665.0% during the 4th quarter. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Finally, Private Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of LTC Properties by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Capital Group LLC now owns 1,524 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. 74.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

LTC Properties Company Profile

LTC is a self-administered real estate investment trust that primarily invests in seniors housing and health care properties primarily through sale-leaseback transactions, mortgage financing and structured finance solutions including mezzanine lending. At September 30, 2018, LTC had 199 investments located in 28 states, comprising 103 assisted living communities, 95 skilled nursing centers and 1 behavioral health care hospital.

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Farmers National Banc Corp (FMNB) Files 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended on December 31, 2018

Farmers National Banc Corp (NASDAQ:FMNB) files its latest 10-K with SEC for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2018. Farmers National Banc Corp and its subsidiaries operate in the domestic banking, trust, retirement consulting, insurance and financial management industries. Its business consists of owning and supervising its subsidiaries. Farmers National Banc Corp has a market cap of $403.270 million; its shares were traded at around $14.51 with a P/E ratio of 12.41 and P/S ratio of 3.95. The dividend yield of Farmers National Banc Corp stocks is 2.07%.

For the last quarter Farmers National Banc Corp reported a revenue of $26.8 million, compared with the revenue of $25.12 million during the same period a year ago. For the latest fiscal year the company reported a revenue of $104.0 million, an increase of 6.5% from last year. For the last five years Farmers National Banc Corp had an average revenue growth rate of 18.3% a year.

The reported diluted earnings per share was $1.16 for the year, an increase of 41.5% from previous year. Over the last five years Farmers National Banc Corp had an EPS growth rate of 24.1% a year. The profitability rank of the company is 4 (out of 10).

At the end of the fiscal year, Farmers National Banc Corp has the cash and cash equivalents of $57.9 million, compared with $17.8 million in the previous year. The long term debt was $250.8 million, compared with $6.99 million in the previous year. Farmers National Banc Corp has a financial strength rank of 4 (out of 10).

At the current stock price of $14.51, Farmers National Banc Corp is traded at 44.7% premium to its historical median P/S valuation band of $10.03. The P/S ratio of the stock is 3.95, while the historical median P/S ratio is 2.74. The stock gained 7.12% during the past 12 months.

CEO Recent Trades:

President & CEO Kevin J Helmick bought 34 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

Director Gregg Strollo bought 68 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.Sr VP/Chief Retail/Marketing Amber B Wallace bought 14 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.VP/Controller Joseph W Sabat bought 68 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.Director Edward Muransky bought 255 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.Director Terry A Moore bought 283 shares of FMNB stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $14.72. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.43% since.

For the complete 20-year historical financial data of FMNB, click here.

Generate Retirement Income With A Split Interest Charitable Trust

&l;p&g;Here&a;rsquo;s a little tax magic to augment your retirement income. This works for people with a highly appreciated asset that they would like to convert to a lifetime income and also down the road benefit a favorite charity: The split interest trust.

We most often see this technique used with appreciated real estate, but it would work with any highly appreciated asset.

Let&a;rsquo;s say twenty five years ago you purchased a vacation condo in Aspen that you no longer use. Today you are much happier retiring in the south of France. Your kids don&a;rsquo;t want it. They have their own. Meanwhile, a little extra retirement income would be nice. Taxes, insurance, maintenance, condo fees and other expenses gnaw into your pocketbook. Over the last quarter century the condo has gone way up in value, so the capital gains tax would take a hefty bite out of any sale proceeds. Finally, you have always wanted to endow a chair in economics at your alma mater.

A split interest trust might be just the thing to unlock the value of your condo, avoid capital gains tax, plug the expense drain, generate a substantial charitable tax deduction, provide you with a generous tax sheltered lifetime income, and finally endow that chair at the University.

In this split interest trust you make a completed charitable gift to the trust. It&a;rsquo;s irrevocable. But, you retain a lifetime interest of income for yourself and your spouse while the charity receives a future benefit of the remaining capital at your death. The trust splits interest between current beneficiaries (you and your spouse) and future beneficiaries (the University).

When the trust subsequently sells the condo, because it&a;rsquo;s a charitable trust the sale avoids a capital gains tax. The trust re-invests the proceeds and then makes annual or more frequent income distributions to you. You have a variety of ways you might design the income stream to meet your needs.

Having made a charitable gift, you will reap an income tax deduction based on the calculated value of the future benefit to the University. That future benefit is calculated from an IRS table based on your ages and the amount of your retained lifetime income stream. The older you are and the smaller your retained income the higher your income tax deduction.

If you don&a;rsquo;t use all the income tax deduction in the year you make the gift, you can carry the unused balance forward for many future years. So, most or all of the income you receive may be tax sheltered by the carried forward income tax deduction.

In the right situation it&a;rsquo;s a WIN-WIN-WIN.

Use your imagination to edit the fact pattern in our example. It doesn&a;rsquo;t have to be real estate. It could be your Picasso, antique car, stamp collection or any other highly appreciated asset.

It is CRITICAL that you design the trust and donate the property BEFORE you enter into any agreement to sell the condo. You cannot transfer a sales contract to the trust. And, of course, the ultimate charity must be an IRS qualified charity.

Your financial planner will assist you with design ideas to tailor your gift to meet your exact needs. And most major charities have a planned gifting officer to consult with you. &a;nbsp;But, it goes without saying that you need a highly qualified attorney to draft the document. &a;nbsp;As always, don&a;rsquo;t try this at home.

Hopefully you will live a long time enjoying sunshine and fine wines in Southern France, the balance of the trust will grow even after your income distributions, and ultimately the University will endow a chair in economics in your name.&l;/p&g;

Here's Why Castlight Health Jumped 24% on Friday

What happened

Shares of Castlight Health (NYSE:CSLT) closed up 24% on Friday following the release of solid fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday. The results beat management's expectations with the company posting $7.5 million in cash flow from operations during the fourth quarter, the first cash-flow-positive quarter in Castlight's history.

So what

Specifically, fourth-quarter revenue increased 13% year over year, to $42.1 million. Looking at just subscription revenue, the year-over-year increase came in at a more impressive 17%.

The company shrunk the bottom-line loss from $0.05 per share in the year-ago quarter to a loss of $0.03 per share in the most recent quarter. On an adjusted basis, Castlight Health turned a slight profit of $0.01 per share, compared to a $0.03 loss in the year-ago quarter.

"Based on these accomplishments, we've crossed a major threshold in the transformation of our business and believe we are in a strong position as the clear leader in digital health navigation," Castlight's CEO John Doyle said on the conference call.

Image source: Getty Images.

Now what

Management is looking for 2019 revenue of $153 million to $158 million, basically flat year over year from the $156.4 million that the company recorded last year, although the better comparator might be the $150.5 million in annualized recurring revenue that Castlight posted last year.

Nevertheless, the bottom line will improve with an expected adjusted operating income of breakeven to $5 million, compared to an adjusted operating loss of $12.7 million last year. The adjusted earnings line also looks to improve at flat to $0.03 per share, compared to a loss of $0.09 per share last year.

Bausch Health Companies Inc (BHC) CHAIRMAN & CEO Joseph C Papa Bought $710,100 of Shares

CHAIRMAN & CEO of Bausch Health Companies Inc (NYSE:BHC) Joseph C Papa bought 30,000 shares of BHC on 02/28/2019 at an average price of $23.67 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $710,100.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company which develops, manufactures, and markets a range of generic and branded generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter products and medical devices. Bausch Health Companies Inc has a market cap of $8.32 billion; its shares were traded at around $23.70 with and P/S ratio of 0.98. Bausch Health Companies Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 17.50% over the past ten years. GuruFocus rated Bausch Health Companies Inc the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

CEO Recent Trades:

CHAIRMAN & CEO Joseph C Papa bought 30,000 shares of BHC stock on 02/28/2019 at the average price of $23.67. The price of the stock has increased by 0.13% since.

For the complete insider trading history of BHC, click here

.

ANGI Homeservices Inc (ANGI) Files 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended on December 31, 2018

ANGI Homeservices Inc (NASDAQ:ANGI) files its latest 10-K with SEC for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2018. ANGI Homeservices Inc creates digital marketplace for home services, connecting millions of homeowners across the globe with home service professionals. It brands include HomeAdvisor, Angie's List, mHelpDesk, HomeStars (Canada), and MyHammer (Germany). ANGI Homeservices Inc has a market cap of $8.21 billion; its shares were traded at around $16.38 with a P/E ratio of 109.19 and P/S ratio of 7.33.

For the last quarter ANGI Homeservices Inc reported a revenue of $279.0 million, compared with the revenue of $223.2 million during the same period a year ago. For the latest fiscal year the company reported a revenue of $1.1 billion, an increase of 53.8% from last year. For the last five years ANGI Homeservices Inc had an average revenue growth rate of 35% a year.

The reported diluted earnings per share was 15 cents for the year, an increase of -162.5% from previous year. The ANGI Homeservices Inc had an operating margin of 5.64%, compared with the operating margin of -20.08% a year before. The 10-year historical median operating margin of ANGI Homeservices Inc is -15.76%. The profitability rank of the company is 3 (out of 10).

At the end of the fiscal year, ANGI Homeservices Inc has the cash and cash equivalents of $337.0 million, compared with $221.5 million in the previous year. The long term debt was $246.0 million, compared with $260.3 million in the previous year. The interest coverage to the debt is 5.4. ANGI Homeservices Inc has a financial strength rank of 7 (out of 10).

At the current stock price of $16.38, ANGI Homeservices Inc is traded at 85.7% premium to its historical median P/S valuation band of $8.82. The P/S ratio of the stock is 7.33, while the historical median P/S ratio is 3.96. The stock gained 9.93% during the past 12 months.

CEO Recent Trades:

CEO William B. Ridenour sold 13,912 shares of ANGI stock on 02/21/2019 at the average price of $16.18. The price of the stock has increased by 1.24% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

CMO Allison Lowrie sold 7,648 shares of ANGI stock on 02/26/2019 at the average price of $16.49. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.67% since.President & COO Craig M. Smith sold 5,088 shares of ANGI stock on 02/25/2019 at the average price of $16.42. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.24% since.CMO Allison Lowrie sold 7,649 shares of ANGI stock on 02/21/2019 at the average price of $16.26. The price of the stock has increased by 0.74% since.President & COO Craig M. Smith sold 5,137 shares of ANGI stock on 02/19/2019 at the average price of $16.64. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.56% since.President & COO Craig M. Smith sold 5,137 shares of ANGI stock on 02/19/2019 at the average price of $16.64. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.56% since.

For the complete 20-year historical financial data of ANGI, click here.

NL Industries Inc (NL) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of NL Industries Inc (NYSE:NL) have been assigned an average broker rating score of 3.00 (Hold) from the one analysts that provide coverage for the stock, Zacks Investment Research reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating.

Zacks has also assigned NL Industries an industry rank of 183 out of 255 based on the ratings given to its competitors.

Get NL Industries alerts:

Shares of NYSE NL opened at $4.36 on Tuesday. NL Industries has a 52-week low of $2.94 and a 52-week high of $10.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.35 million, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 2.76.

In other news, Director Thomas P. Stafford sold 19,000 shares of NL Industries stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.62, for a total value of $68,780.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NL Industries by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,892 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in NL Industries by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 538,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,888,000 after acquiring an additional 8,527 shares during the last quarter. Ramsey Quantitative Systems boosted its position in NL Industries by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Ramsey Quantitative Systems now owns 45,737 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 14,319 shares during the last quarter. Cutler Group LP boosted its position in NL Industries by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Cutler Group LP now owns 23,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 2,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in NL Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.18% of the company’s stock.

About NL Industries

NL Industries, Inc, through its subsidiary, CompX International Inc, operates in the component products industry in the United States and internationally. The company manufactures and sells mechanical and electronic cabinet locks, and other locking mechanisms, including disc tumbler locks, pin tumbler locking mechanisms, and CompX eLock and Stealthlock electronic locks for use in various applications, such as ignition systems, mailboxes, file cabinets, desk drawers, tool storage cabinets, vending and gaming machines, high security medical cabinetry, electronic circuit panels, storage compartments, and gas station security.

Recommended Story: Net Asset Value

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Five Must See Charts As The Bear Market Rally May Be Ending

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-900114590&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/900114590/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;617&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; (photo credit: Getty)

When timing a directional change to the stock market it&s;s key to look at the configuration of the technical levels among the five major averages.

&l;p class=&q;tweet_line&q;&g;Here are the daily charts that show what is going on now during a potential ending of the bear market rally.&l;/p&g;

&l;strong&g;The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA)&l;/strong&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-59450&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/investor/files/2019/02/190221DJID.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;570&q; data-width=&q;936&q;&g; Daily Chart for the Dow (&l;em&g;Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith&l;/em&g;)

On Monday the Dow closed above my annual and monthly pivots at 25,819 and 25,827, respectively. These levels have held each day so far this week. &l;strong&g;&l;em&g;A close below 25,819 is a warning.&l;/em&g;&l;/strong&g;

&l;strong&g;The S&a;amp;P 500 Index

&l;/strong&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-59451&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/investor/files/2019/02/190221SPXD.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;571&q; data-width=&q;940&q;&g; Daily Chart For SPX (&l;em&g;Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith&l;/em&g;)

On Wednesday the S&a;amp;P 500 nearly tested my monthly risky level at 2,791.9. SPX needs to close above this key level to sustain gains.

&l;strong&g;The NASDAQ Composite&l;/strong&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-59452&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/investor/files/2019/02/190221NasdaqD.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;571&q; data-width=&q;936&q;&g; Daily Chart for the Nasdaq (&l;em&g;Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith&l;/em&g;)

The Nasdaq has been fluttering back and forth around my monthly pivot at 7,485 and its 200-day simple moving average at 7,470. The Nasdaq needs to close above these key levels.

&l;strong&g;Dow Jones Transportation Average&l;/strong&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-59453&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/investor/files/2019/02/190221DJTD.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;571&q; data-width=&q;938&q;&g; Daily Chart for the Transports (&l;em&g;Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith&l;/em&g;)

Transports are the key as it&a;rsquo;s above its 200-day simple moving average of 10,565 and below its quarterly and annual risky levels at 10,882 and 10,976, which I project as the potential top for the bear market rally. A daily close below the 200-day SMA would be a warning.

&l;strong&g;The Russell 2000&l;/strong&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-59454&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/investor/files/2019/02/190221RUTD.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;568&q; data-width=&q;933&q;&g; Daily Chart for Russell 2000 (&l;em&g;Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith&l;/em&g;)

The Russell 2000 is below its 200-day simple moving average at 1,587.83 and below my annual risky level at 1,590.63. We need to see a breakout above these levels to extend the rally.

&l;strong&g;&l;em&g;Get timely investing news and information from Forbes Investing Digest. &l;a href=&q;http://info.forbes.com/Investing-Digest-FDC-Sign-Up.html?k=EM_ID_FDC&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Sign up for free now&l;/a&g;.&l;/em&g;&l;/strong&g;

----

&l;em&g;&a;nbsp;&l;/em&g;

&a;nbsp;

&a;nbsp;&l;/p&g;

Scientific Games Corp (SGMS) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Scientific Games Corp  (NASDAQ:SGMS)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 21, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Scientific Games Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Robert Shore. Please go ahead.

Robert Shore -- Senior Director of Finance

Thanks, Nichole. During today's call, we will discuss our fourth quarter 2018 results and operating performance, followed by a question-and-answer period. With me this morning are Barry Cottle and Michael Quartieri.

Our call today will contain statements that include forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed during the call. For information regarding these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier this morning. The materials related to this call are posted on our website and filings with the SEC.

We will discuss certain non-GAAP measures. A description of each non-GAAP measure and a reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in our earnings press release as well as in the Investors section on our website. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. A replay of this webcast and accompanying materials will be archived in the Investors section of our website at scientificgames.

Now, let me turn the call over to Barry.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Bobby. Good morning and thanks for joining us. This is an exciting time for Scientific Games, 2018 was a year of great progress, growth, and innovation. We focused on producing games players love in the most cost effective manner, making strategic investments in innovation and building the best solutions for our customers. Those initiatives provided a solid framework to effectively grow our business, generate free cash flow, and delever the business through 2019 and beyond.

We're pleased to report that our fourth quarter results marked our 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases in revenue and consolidated AEBITDA. The mix shift of our recurring revenue is also up year-over-year with the addition of NYX. Our free cash flow this quarter were strong. However, they were negatively impacted by $305 million in combined payments to fund our remaining portion of our nine year highly accretive Italian lottery instant ticket concession to settle the Shuffle Tech legal matter, and the timing of our interest payments. While we firmly believe that jury decision in the Shuffle Tech matter was wrong, we're pleased with the outcome of the settlement and to have this matter behind us.

I recently returned from the ICE Show in London, which was very successful. We're pleased with the innovative new products we showcased, the awards we won, including Lottery Supplier of the Year and great customer feedback. Importantly, we believe these products will help us grow revenues and drive free cash flow. We remain focused on improving game ops and we began to see the benefit of that focus in the fourth quarter, with quarter-over-quarter growth in both our footprint and yields in our WAP and premium segment.

We've been successfully rolling out the James Bond franchise and we will complement that with a wave of strong content including Jin Ji Bao Xi, Twin Fire Frenzy, FLINTSTONES and Superlock. For those not familiar with the game Jin Ji Bao Xi, it's the number one linked slot in Asia and we're now rolling it out across the United States with the initial performance being very favorable. These games will be in our premium market segment to complement Bond's recent success in the WAP market segment.

Our new games will work across multiple cabinets, including our new Wave XL, the J43 and the Pro Wave cabinet. This will allow customers to enjoy our games at different price points and for us to be more efficient with our game ops capital spend. We also see a large opportunity to grow in places like Australia and Europe by developing more localized content. Our key focus is on making the best games for our customers in the most cost effective manner.

Our Lottery business remains strong and is in great hands. We recently named Pat McHugh, EVP, Group keep Executive Officer of our Lottery business. For those that don't know Pat, he has been with Scientific Games for 14 years as a proven executive, most recently heading our global Lottery Systems business. Pat will leverage his deep industry expertise and proven success at Scientific Games to provide strong operational leadership, drive innovation, and execute our global growth strategies. Jim Kennedy will remain with the Company as the Chairman of Lottery.

This year marked a record year for domestic retail sales of instant tickets, breaking the $50 billion mark, with Scientific Games providing over 70% of those tickets. We are adding innovation to our instant ticket business to drive growth for retailers. We also see online mobile play as a tremendous opportunity and we're proud of the Pennsylvania iLottery launch, which has seen nearly 200 million wagers in its first seven months of operations, making it the most successful iLottery launch in the US.

We are increasing our pilot program for SCiQ, partnering with lotteries and retailers including 7-Eleven and Circle K and in February, we expanded this pilot program to include Walmart in the State of Florida. We are also in the process of rolling out units under our contract with the Ohio State lottery which includes installations at all 150 plus Kroger markets in the state. And in Turkey, our consortium was recently awarded a 10-year contract to manage its sports betting business, which is one of the largest in the world.

In Digital, I want to take a moment to welcome our new EVP, Group Chief Executive Officer, Jordan Levin, Jordan has been with the Company for 12 years and has been a driving force behind our digital strategies, new business development, and enhancements in our iLottery, iGaming and sports betting solutions. He was our key point person for the acquisition and integration of NYX. We recently launched our OpenBet platform with Caesars in Philadelphia and are now live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi.

We also successfully launched with the New Zealand Racing Board, which is changing how customers in that market bet on and enjoy sports. OpenBet is now regularly processing an average of 20,000 bets glitch free per minute. We have the most comprehensive sports wagering solution for our customers and we expect to win business as the market expands to more states. A recent example is the Oneida Nation in New York, which signed on as a new sports betting customer in the quarter.

In iGaming, we just reached a deal with DraftKings, we recently launched Paddy Power Betfair on our OGS platform and will offer the best games to our players including Jin Ji Bao Xi on mobile in March. In New Jersey, the only state where iGaming on slots and table games is active, we had a record month in total amount wagered in December. As the market leader in New Jersey with over 50% share, we are confident we will maintain this position as additional jurisdictions open based on our unrivaled content and platform.

In Social, we grew revenue quarter-over-quarter by 8% or 4 times the market according to estimates from Eilers & Krejcik. The strong results were driven both by customers who love our core apps and the success of new games like Bingo Showdown and MONOPOLY slots. Our games are complementary to our existing business as they address different customer segments than our legacy games. We've seen increased revenue for both the core legacy games we have and the newly launched games.

In mid-December, our Social gaming business confidentially filed an S-1 as we are considering a possible initial public offering of a minority interest. The process is moving along and last week, our Social Gaming business submitted Amendment 1 to the draft registration statement. We anticipate that the proceeds from the IPO would primarily be used to repay debt.

Overall, we are very pleased with the quarter. The investments we make give us a clear lane to drive revenue growth, generate free cash flow, and delever the balance sheet in 2019 and beyond. We are focused now on doing what we do, which is making the best games to help our global customers win in lottery, casino, real money digital gaming and sports betting.

And with that, let me now turn the call over to Mike to provide his review of the fourth quarter results.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Thanks, Barry. Good morning, everyone. As Barry noted, our results continue to be strong. Consolidated revenue rose 8% and our AEBITDA increased 6%. In our Gaming business, fourth quarter AEBITDA decreased by 2% or $5 million despite revenue declining 5%. Our AEBITDA margin improved 150 basis points to 49.6%. Revenue from gaming machine sales decreased $23 million or 12% in the fourth quarter. The decline from the prior year reflects 700 fewer units for new opening and expansion, with last year featuring two large domestic openings. Domestic replacement units were down 633 units as the prior year included 700 VLT units sold into Canada versus no comparable shipment to this year.

We shipped 9,023 machines globally, including 3,788 replacement units in the US and Canada, 286 expansion units and 659 VGTs to Illinois. Internationally, shipments totaled 4,290 compared to 4,409 units a year ago. Year-over-year, our average selling price for the quarter was down 4% driven by a greater mix of lower priced international units, primarily due to a large order in the UK. We expect to receive our fair share of floor space at Encore Boston Harbor and the majority of these shipments will occur in the first quarter of this year. We are making the New Wave XL cabinet available for sale in early April as well as more content on the TwinStar J43 to drive growth in 2019.

Gaming operations revenue was down approximately $8 million on a quarter sequential basis to $151 million. On a year-over-year basis, revenue was down 11% or $17 million, of which $6.8 million was the result of the new revenue recognition accounting for WAP jackpot expense. For comparison purposes, the WAP jackpot expense was $5.4 million and treated as cost of services in the prior year. This change in classification has no impact on operating income, AEBITDA, or cash flow.

On a quarter sequential basis, our installed base of WAP premium and daily fee participation unit was up 111 units and average daily revenue per unit was up $1.65, despite the fourth quarter typically being the slowest in gaming ops given the holiday season. As James Bond roll out continues to be successful, with more than 700 units in the field, in more than 150 casinos, and other titles like MONOPOLY Millionaire and The Lord of the Rings contributing to our growing footprint.

Revenue from other participation units was down $2 million on a quarter sequential basis. The installed base was up 121 units as we placed an additional 380 units in Greece, bringing our footprint to more than 3,700 units. For a year-over-year perspective, there were 1,464 more units in Greece and 2,249 fewer units in the UK. This decrease in the UK is related to fewer shops operating in the market. This mix shift of the installed base negatively impacted our yields as the units in Greece carry a lower yield.

Gaming systems revenue increased $8 million year-over-year or 10%. The growth is primarily related to ongoing installations in Canada coupled with increased hardware sales for shipments of our innovative iVIEW 4 player interface display units. iVIEW 4 remains very strong and we have sold 105,000 units to-date including 17,000 in the fourth quarter. We have a large opportunity to replace our existing base of 300,000 units previously sold as well as the roll out of the product to new customers. We expect maintenance revenue associated with our new contract to continue to increase through 2019 and beyond. Table products revenue increased $10 million or 20% year-over-year, driven by strong demand of our global shufflers.

Turning to Lottery, our fourth quarter revenue increased $14 million and AEBITDA was up $10 million compared to the year ago quarter. Within our lottery business, our systems revenue increased $14 million or 22% year-over-year. This was driven largely by growth in hardware sales and recent lottery installations in Maryland and Kansas, the new investment in Keno and virtual sports in Pennsylvania and the benefit from the run-up of a large POWERBALL jackpot during the quarter.

Our instant ticket revenue of $150 million was down 1% from the prior year. The launch scheduled for instant games can make year-over-year comparisons challenging. We will launch Deal or No Deal, our next multistate instant lottery game in May, which follows the success of our WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET that exceeded $860 million in retail sales in 2017 and 2018.

Turning to our Social segment, we generated strong growth. Revenue increased 19% year-over-year to $114 million while AEBITDA increased 30% to $28 million. We experienced record revenue this quarter driven by increased monetization of our paying players with ARPDAU up 10% on a year-over-year basis. On a quarter sequential basis, our fourth quarter revenues were up 8%. The growth was driven by legacy games, including Jackpot Party Casino showcasing new game updates and features, and the strong success of newer titles like Bingo Showdown and MONOPOLY slots.

In Digital, we generated $72 million in revenue and $12 million in AEBITDA. During 2018, we successfully launched our gaming content across 23 new client sites and signed 16 new customers. We successfully launched sports for the New Zealand Racing Board and in January, we began powering sports betting in Pennsylvania with Caesars. During the quarter, we reached a final settlement on the Shuffle Tech legal matter. As a result, we paid $151.5 million during the quarter, which represented 45% of the original amount. Because we had fully reserved the judgment in the third quarter, the $183.1 million excess amount was reversed and recorded as a credit in restructuring and other.

This past year had a number of unusual items related to cash flow, including nearly $180 million associated with the nine-year extension of our Italy instant ticket concession, the $151.5 million for the Shuffle Tech settlement and overall higher cash interest payments of $52 million resulting from our February 2018 refinancing activities, the higher than normal CapEx spend associated with long-term highly accretive lottery constricts in Maryland and Kansas, virtual sports and Keno in Pennsylvania, a new seven-year agreement with Ladbrokes Coral and the development of our US sports betting platform. We expect 2019 to be a much cleaner year from a cash flow perspective.

For 2019, we expect capital expenditures to be below 2018 and within a range of $345 million to $375 million. Based on the timing of lottery hardware sales and gaming product launches, we would expect our results to be stronger in the second half of the year.

In summary, I would remind everyone that our commitment is firmly focused on deleveraging, which will be accomplished by continued revenue growth and effectively operating the business.

And with that, Nichole, you could open up the line for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Carlo Santarelli -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Hey, guys, thanks. Michael, just on the CapEx comments you made there toward the end, with respect to the Pennsylvania tender, I'm assuming there's something baked into that $345 million to $375 million for that potential rebid and restart?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Not at this point. When you go back and look at our normal CapEx spend, it's been roughly around that $300 million mark. And that was historically before the addition of NYX. So there is an uptick to the normal amount for NYX plus a couple of other strategic items that we are working on. But right now, there's nothing in our budget this year for Pennsylvania and that is really a function of where we stand today with the RFP.

Carlo Santarelli -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Understood. And could you possibly provide maybe two updates, one on the status of that RFP and how you think about the timing and then, secondly, maybe on the latest that you guys kind of understand coming out of Brazil?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Sure. Why don't I go ahead and take the PA lottery update and then I will hand Brazil over to Barry? At this point, the contract actually ends in June. So right now we're still waiting for the rerelease of that RFP, which we're expecting in the next couple of months. So given the timing with the state to be able to go through and do an RFP, get the responses and evaluate them, we wouldn't anticipate there to be much in the way of CapEx spend in 2019 for the Pennsylvania systems contract.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

And related to Brazil, on the lottery, bets are expected to be due on March 20. The winner currently to be decided on March 26 and we're currently evaluating the opportunity right now.

Carlo Santarelli -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Understood. Thanks, guys, very much.

Operator

Our next question comes from Barry Jonas of SunTrust. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Stantial -- SunTrust -- Analyst

Hey, guys, this is actually for Jeff Stantial on for Barry. Thanks for taking our questions. Yes, I guess, first off I appreciate the color on the Social IPO. Could you just give us any thoughts on potential timing, and then in your own words, would you say this is more about monetization or getting more credit in your multiple?

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

As we mentioned before and obviously where -- we have obviously restrictions related to the SEC that prevents from saying a lot on this right now. As we -- but we mentioned our motivation, one is obviously unlock value of Social, which is I think a benefit and then secondarily, to help us use the proceeds to pay down debt and delever the business from a motivational perspective. As we noted earlier on December 17, we confidently submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the SEC to a possible public offering and then on February 14. We submitted amendment number one to the draft registration statement. We anticipate that, obviously, as I mentioned before, the proceeds would primarily be used to repay debt. We can't really comment beyond that in terms of date.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah, the only thing I'd just kind of add to that, the duration of time between the initial submission in December and then the second submission in February, recently, unfortunately, when the government shuts down, the SEC shuts down. So that review process has -- was taken a little bit that longer than we expected only as a result of the government shutdown.

Jeffrey Stantial -- SunTrust -- Analyst

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks. And then just on the 10% notes that are callable. Could you give us any updated thoughts on potentially refinancing those? And then just how are you sort of weighing the extending the maturities versus looking at the net interest savings net of the call premium?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Sure. Look, as I've said before, we continually look into the credit markets for the right opportunity. Unfortunately that right opportunity wasn't available around December 1 when the 10% became callable for the first time. However, since the New Year the markets have recovered somewhat and continuing to show improvement. So at this point in time, we're going to continue to monitor the markets and take advantage of it when the timing is right for us. That's about the extent to what I can say on that matter, though.

Jeffrey Stantial -- SunTrust -- Analyst

Okay, great. I think that's it for me. I appreciate the color, guys.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Brad Boyer of Stifel. Please go ahead.

Brad Boyer -- Stifel -- Analyst

Yeah, thanks for taking the questions, guys. First one is just around North American product sales within the gaming segment. I think all of us, myself included, kind of overlooked that shipment into Canada last year when modeling out the fourth quarter this year. So if we look ahead into '19, could you just give us a sense of kind of how you guys are thinking about sort of core North American replacement demand and sort of any anecdotes you can provide based on conversations you've had with your customers? That will be helpful. Thanks.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah. So I think when you look at this year's -- I should say, this year being the 2019 sales projections and what you're looking at, I think the Eilers guys have it right where it's going to be -- and I will say, slow growth or a low single-digit growth, which is what it's been over the last couple of years and we wouldn't expect there to be any significant movement in that as a catalyst. I'd say there's no catalyst that we're seeing this year that's going to make any type of significant changes from what we've seen from '17 to '18 we would think would continue from '18 into '19. I think the things around that is what we can do from a market share perspective and that's why when we introduced the Wave XL in the for-sale market, we think that's going to be a key driver for us in '19 to be able to capture market share and hopefully drive a bit more growth in the overall replacement market itself.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. The thing that I would add to what Q said is just, I think, as we look forward, we are pretty excited about our product roadmap going forward, and the fact that we will have the Wave XL and sales coming in that mid-year timeframe combined with some really nice titles.

Brad Boyer -- Stifel -- Analyst

Okay, helpful. Second question is just around the Social and Digital segments, and then the associated margins within those segments. It came in a little bit lighter than, I think, again, where kind of everyone was. I mean, within Social, were there any unusual costs in there tied to the S-1 filing and the potential IPO offering? But I guess, what I'm getting at is sort of how should we think about sort of margins in those segments as we roll forward?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah, I think I'll take the first part and then I'll hand it over to Barry from an operational perspective. So there are no costs associated with the proposed IPO that would be impacting the operating results within the Social segment.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. And, look, the business continues to scale nicely and from an operational perspective, all of our games quite frankly right now are healthy and growing with the KPIs within each game. Both individually and collectively, we had record month in December, record month in -- a record quarter in Q4 and what that enable us to do, obviously, is we're also being able to spend from a marketing -- return on investment marketing perspective at higher yields and so we've been leaning into that as well and obviously was able to achieve, as we mentioned before, kind of the 4x market growth in that time period. And so it is really quite frankly a function from an operational perspective of leaning into the business in the most kind of effective and efficient way that we can. So we expect to be able to continue to scale that business and get scale over time, meaning leverage and drive higher margins as we grow.

Brad Boyer -- Stifel -- Analyst

Okay, thanks. And then lastly, I appreciate the fact that no one on the call's an attorney. But just given the breadth of your product and services offering, just curious if you guys had any thoughts around the Wire Act reinterpretation. That's all for me.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

No, no worries at all. And, look, we believe the Department of Justice's new opinion is wrong on the law and that Justice actually got it right in its 2011 opinion. Unfortunately the new opinion leaves obviously important questions unanswered and shows a little understanding of how the gaming industry operates today. Two law suits, as you know, have already been filed challenging the DOJ's new opinion and seeking clarification that it does not apply to certain industry practices. So for now, we're continuing to monitor the situation closely and have no current plans to alter our strategy as it relates to iGaming, iLottery or domestic sports betting.

Brad Boyer -- Stifel -- Analyst

Helpful. Thanks, guys.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Stauff of Susquehanna. Please go ahead.

Joseph Stauff -- Susquehanna -- Analyst

Thank you. Good morning. Can you guys talk about just the game ops premium, why they are progressing? You've got a number of new products obviously that are hitting markets that you're marketing now. Once the ramp obviously occurs on the machines on gaming first, then it stabilizes. Where you think basically the new products and how they're looking once they have stabilized thus far? And then I have two follow ups.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, the way I would look at it is this, so obviously as I think Q mentioned in his notes, in Q4, we actually grew our footprint and yields quarter-over-quarter in Q4. We've got, what I call, a one-two punch going after this space today. We've always been pretty strong in WAP and less strong on the premium segment. And one of the things that we did quite frankly last summer when I came on was kind of what I call product portfolio optimization, which was taking a look at the products that we have, what are the segments we want to go after and win and making sure we have the right titles lined up against that. And then basically go after it, introduce, what we call, content or cabinet interoperability, which is a single platform that cuts across our cabinets, which enables us to launch a product and then deploy it across multiple cabinets. Those cabinets can exist on the floor or their new cabinets that we're introducing.

In the past, as an example, Jin Ji Bao Xi, we would have launched that on the Wave XL and you would have had to have the Wave XL in order to get that game. Now, we're able to launch Jin Ji Bao Xi and you can have it on existing J43 et cetera. So stepping back, we've gone after the segment with really incredible IP like Jin Ji Bao Xi, Pink Panther, Twin Fire Frenzy et cetera to really bolster that premium segment to complement Bond and some of our top titles that we have on the WAP side of the business and then deploy them such that it can be leveraged across multiple cabinets in the marketplace today. And I think that puts us in a really nice position to go attack the game ops space, which was, as we've mentioned now for several quarters, both a challenge in 2018, but a huge opportunity for us in 2019 as an organization. So, that's how we've been strategically attacking it and we're very excited about it, because I think honestly Bond with Jin Ji Bao Xi gives us a really nice one-two punch and then we had a really strong lineup beyond that as well.

Joseph Stauff -- Susquehanna -- Analyst

That makes sense. Thank you. I wanted to ask you about maybe just (inaudible) segment, the ASPs certainly were lower and I was wondering if that was just due to mix shift, that mix shift in particular out of international, if you can comment on that?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah, I can take that one. So it really stems from international sales and it was primarily around in the UK where the units there are slightly lower ASP than what we typically receive say from an international market like Australia. So although the number of units sold internationally were relatively consistent, that mix shift between higher UK percentage is what drove down the ASP in Q4.

Joseph Stauff -- Susquehanna -- Analyst

Okay, makes sense. And then finally, on the digital side particular -- can you just maybe talk a little bit or what you can share with us on kind of strategy? You're obviously ramping, trying to build capacity obviously for (technical difficulty) talk about betting in particular. Is it fair to assume that it will be relatively modest as you kind of ramp up that capacity?

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

You broke up, so I am not sure I caught the whole question, but I think if you're referring to kind of basically our strategy on digital today, look, our goal on digital is to be the leading enabling platform, aggregator of content on iGaming and the number one sports full service provider in the marketplace today. We have an incredibly solid position in Europe and the UK today across the board from a market share perspective and we continue -- while there's a lot of focus on North America, we continue to win a lot of business in Europe as well and extremely successful.

And then, on North America, bringing our -- taking our solution and -- which we believe having kind of become the market leader in the UK over decades, we know -- having the best product in the marketplace, most scalable, customizable, reliable, compliant product in the marketplace, we will -- which we've been investing on the frontend of North America, we've put ourselves in a position to continue to partner with really strong players such as Caesars and Oneida and other deals that we're working on now. So the North America sports, which we think is a big opportunity, is still nascent in the marketplace today. So, still in investment mode. We expect it will take a few -- a couple -- two to three years before that market becomes material, but obviously with the opportunity in the US and North America, it's something that we and others believe in -- will bear fruit.

And then, along with that, and I think one of the things that is not kind of a big focus, but I think it's extremely important is that in addition to North America sports is iGaming. iGaming in New Jersey, as we mentioned before, we have about a 50% market share on the platform side, around 22% on the content side. As these states are starting to legalize sports, they are also contemplating iGaming and legislation starting to form around that which is another big opportunity and in that space, we're extremely well positioned. So, we're really setup as North America starts to adopt sports and iGaming that we're in a great position

And then the third leg that we also mentioned on the outset is iLottery. We've also developed a leading iLottery solution that we've launched in Pennsylvania and just recently achieved the most successful iLottery launch in North America today. And so we've built a really world class solution across all three and it really nicely set up to capture the value chain of the enabling platform, but also leading content in those spaces as well. And granted it's been in investment mode in 2018 and will through this year, all of those markets are growing and adopting and we will be in a position as that future market starts to scale.

Joseph Stauff -- Susquehanna -- Analyst

Understood. Thanks a lot, guys.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Mike Malouf of Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Eric Des Lauriers -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst

Hi, guys, this is Eric Des Lauriers on for Mike. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could dive into the opportunity with the SciQ machines and lottery. Could you talk a little bit more about your current footprint, the results to-date and how your assessment of the opportunity has evolved over this trial period? Thanks.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yes, sure. As we've commented before, if you look at the total addressable market for SciQ, to kind of break that down, there's 200 plus thousand retail locations that sell instant lottery tickets today. Now, SciQ is more for a high volume type location, which we would think is roughly around 30% of those, so roughly about 60,000 locations. From a trial perspective, as Barry commented, we've just added Walmart to the pilot program with locations in Florida that we're excited about and then from a roll out perspective, the one contract that we have where we've actually been able to get the sale done is through the Ohio State lottery. And as Barry commented, they are in the process of going through and rolling out and making determinations as to where they want those 300 units. They have determined that they want to put over 150 of them, which represents basically every Kroger market in the State of Ohio, which is exciting news for us to see how that's going to play out accordingly.

For all those that were in the pilot program to-date, all have seen increase in retail sales anywhere from 10% to 15% and the hidden benefit in this and I -- remember from our last call is really around the operational efficiencies at the retailer. If you think about it, the tip of the tickets that are sitting at the retailer is no different than cash in the register and therefore, every time they read -- they countdown their till to record their revenues for the day, there is a significant amount of labor that goes into counting down those retail instant ticket and then reconciling that to the data in the POS. So, getting the retailers that benefit and the additional benefits around the security features are two really important items that will help stimulate that growth within SciQ.

Eric Des Lauriers -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst

All right. Great. That's helpful. Thanks, guys.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from David Katz of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Erik Hellquist -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Hi, good morning. This is Erik Hellquist on for David. Just wanted to touch quickly on the James Bond franchise. I know you had discussed in detail on your prepared remarks, but just wanted to get any kind of additional color you can give us as well as any kind of metrics you are willing to share?

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I think the things that essentially, as we mentioned kind of, I think, earlier, I'd say is, as Q had said, we have well over 700 games installed in over 150 casinos. They are performing quite -- basically comparable to the terms that Wonka did on Gamescape, which was our best WAP game ever. And so we're seeing the two to three times floor average on Bond, which is exceptional. So we've been extremely pleased with the Bond franchise and right now, which again I think is largely attributed to the fact that we were able to grow our footprint in yields over the quarter because we had such a hit and we've got more Bond products coming out the door as well for -- in Q1. So, again, we're very happy about it. I think we got LIVE AND LET DIE and maybe one or two other titles here coming out again. So, very happy with it.

Erik Hellquist -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Okay, thanks. And just another question on the leverage profile. Could you just give us kind of a sense for your target leverage and what kind of pathway you would expect to get there?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah, unfortunately, we don't really give guidance as far as what our leverage targets are, but from a Company perspective and from, I should say, from Barry and I specifically, our key objective is to drive free cash flow in order to use that to delever our balance sheet. So given where leverage is today, our initial target is let's get below 6. And when we get below 6, then we are going to drive to get below 5. Now that's the pathway we go, that will take a couple of years based on where we're at from an operations perspective. But setting an initial target of, saying, we want to be at x times, we don't have that and actually disclose anything to that effect to the market.

Erik Hellquist -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Great. Thanks, Q, and thanks, Barry.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from James Taylor of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

James Taylor -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Hey, guys how are you doing?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Hey, James.

James Taylor -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

I guess, first, just on the -- you mentioned the Canadian system roll out, which I know is sort of ongoing. I was wondering if you could sort of help to quantify what that impact will be like in '19 versus '18, just when we think about the number of units that will be impacted and then what's the sort of run rate service fees on that contract are expected to be?

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah, I mean, I would look at it this -- the more significant and larger sized installations really were taking place throughout '18. So we would expect the Canadian systems deals to start running downward. I would say it's probably going to be somewhere in that -- I'd say, best guess would be around $20 million year-over-year decline associated with just the Canadian systems. However, some of that will get made up on with the additional maintenance fees that we're going to start collecting as the roll out continues. From a, I'd say like a couple quarterly view of the roll out, it is fairly lumpy throughout the quarter. I should say, throughout each of the quarters throughout the year.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

And one thing to add on that is just in addition to the Canadian just as it relates to systems, the other opportunities related and I think we've mentioned this earlier, but we have continued healthy growth of the iVIEW 4 placements. We did -- 17,236 were deployed in Q4, bringing our total installed base to over 105,000, but it basically puts us in the early stages of the replacement cycle, with over around 300,000 iVIEW 1, 2 and 3 still existing. So, still a lot of upside as it relates to the iVIEW 4 beyond what we're doing in Canada.

James Taylor -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Very good. And then, Mike, just one follow-up. And you mentioned in the prepared remarks, obviously there are a bunch of one-time cash flow items in '18. Other than interest in CapEx, are there anything that we should be thinking about from a cash flow perspective in '19 and if you could just give us an update? I assume that your NOLs will be in place for years to come.

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Yeah. So I'll answer the end one quickly. From an NOL perspective, our net operating losses was roughly about 1.5 billion as of the end of the year. But from a free cash flow perspective, we kind of listed out a couple of things, so if you just took Q4 free cash flow yet -- but we had negative free cash flow of almost $229 million. When you take into account the $151.5 million payment for the Shuffle Tech matter, the $105 million last payment for the LNS concession, and then just the timing of accrued interest as we've covered throughout the course of the year when we changed and refinanced the 7%s, which was a Q1, Q3 timing of interest payments to more of the senior notes of the 5%s, which are Q2, Q4, that accounted for about $50 million in additional cash payments in Q4. You take the sum of those three items, and kind of exclude those from that number, you get to a much more normalized free cash flow number, which compares quite favorably to the $9.7 million we had in this Q4.

As we look into 2019, we don't anticipate anything like the Shuffle Tech type settlement. We don't have anything on the horizon that's very similar to the LNS concession payments. The only thing that you could have is, if we're able to refinance accordingly, the timing of that refinance could impact the timing of interest payments, but again that's a timing perspective, it's not a significant use of cash that we've seen in 2018. So we would expect 2019, as I said in the prepared marks, to be a much cleaner year from a cash flow perspective.

James Taylor -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Excellent. Thank you for the update, guys.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Barry Cottle for any closing remarks.

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate your support. The entire organization is excited for the opportunities ahead of us. Look forward to updating you on upcoming accomplishments and our first quarter results during our next call. Thank you very much.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Duration: 47 minutes

Call participants:

Robert Shore -- Senior Director of Finance

Barry Cottle -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Michael Quartieri -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Carlo Santarelli -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Jeffrey Stantial -- SunTrust -- Analyst

Brad Boyer -- Stifel -- Analyst

Joseph Stauff -- Susquehanna -- Analyst

Eric Des Lauriers -- Craig-Hallum Capital Group -- Analyst

Erik Hellquist -- Jefferies -- Analyst

James Taylor -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

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