Rosenblatt Initiates Penn National With A Buy, Street High PT; Shares Rise

Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on Penn National Gaming with a Buy and a Street high price target of $80 (28.1% upside potential), saying that the company has the potential to be the market leader. Shares of the casino operator rose 2.2% in extended market trading after closing 7.4% higher on Thursday.

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Rosenblatt analyst Bernie McTernan is bullish on Penn National’s (PENN) sports betting business. McTernan believes that the return of NFL (National Football League) and the timing of Barstool Sports betting’s debut could act as catalysts for Penn’s stock. The analyst said that Penn National “has the potential to gain significant share in online betting, driven by their partnership with Barstool providing a differentiated customer acquisition strategy.”

Back in January, the company acquired a 36% interest in popular sports news platform Barstool Sports. Penn National will test its Barstool Sports online betting app from Sept. 15 -17, and will officially soft launch on Sept. 18. (See PENN stock analysis on TipRanks).

On Aug. 6, Penn National reported 2Q revenues of $305.5 million, topping analysts’ estimates of $249.1 million. It reported a loss of $1.69 per share smaller than the Street consensus of a loss of $2.06 per share.

Currently, the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus is based on 10 Buys, 2 Holds and 1 Sell. Given the year-to-date share price rally of 144.4%, the average price target of $55.67 now implies downside potential of about 10.9% to current levels.