02:05 PM EDT, 05/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Penn Entertainment ( PENN ) on Thursday posted weaker-than-expected first-quarter financial results amid weather headwinds, prompting the casino operator to lower its interactive revenue outlook for 2024.

The company swung to an adjusted loss of $0.79 a share for the quarter through March 31 from a $0.39 profit a year earlier, while revenue fell to $1.61 billion from $1.67 billion. Wall Street was looking for a normalized loss of $0.52 on revenue of $1.63 billion.

Property-level revenue fell to $1.40 billion from $1.44 billion. Property-level consists of retail operating segments, which are composed of the company's Northeast, South, West, and Midwest segments. Interactive revenue slid to $207.7 million from $233.5 million.

Penn shares were down 7.5% in Thursday afternoon trade.

"Weather events in January and early February impacted all our regional property segments; however, both visitation and volumes subsequently rebounded with stable trends continuing into April," Chief Executive Jay Snowden said in a statement. The interactive segment's results took a hit mainly due to "unfavorable hold" from major sporting events, Snowden said.

The recently launched ESPN BET online sportsbook, part of the interactive segment, continued to attract new users in the quarter, though results were affected by lower-than-projected hold and spend per user, according to Snowden. ESPN BET was launched under a deal with ESPN ( DIS ) parent Walt Disney ( DIS ) .

Although the launch has gone "very well" in most areas, there are still a few areas for improvement, Snowden said on an earnings conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript. "We are in the process of doing something that has never been done before in our space by launching in 17 states simultaneously with a new sports betting brand."

For 2024, Penn now expects interactive revenue in a range of $1.02 billion to $1.07 billion and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization loss between $475 million and $525 million, Chief Financial Officer Felicia Hendrix said on the call. The company previous projected segment revenue at $1.28 billion to $1.42 billion and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $380 million to $420 million.

"In addition to the pass-through of the shortfall in the first quarter relative to our previous guidance, our new guidance assumes current market share trends prior to our product improvements in the fall and similar holds to our April results," Hendrix told analysts. The company now expects full-year retail revenue of $5.61 billion to $5.76 billion, compared with its previous range of $5.6 billion to $5.75 billion, Hendrix added.

"The future is very promising," Snowden said on the call. "The (two) most challenging quarters from a digital (profit and loss) perspective are now behind us."

Price: 15.24, Change: -1.20, Percent Change: -7.30