PENN Stock Just Received A ‘Buy’ Rating From Goldman Sachs – Analyst Says Regional Gaming Sector Is Seeing A ‘Resurgence’

• Goldman Sachs stated that Penn offers the most compelling risk/rewards in the gaming sector, with its regional business at an inflection point.
• Truist has raised Penn’s price target to $25 from $20 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating.
• Citizens affirmed its ‘Market Outperform’ rating on Penn with a price target of $24 on the stock, after taking tours of the company’s new Illinois casinos.

Shares of Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) were in focus on Friday after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the company, citing that a ‘resurgence’ in the regional gaming industry is setting up companies for positive earnings revisions.

Goldman Sachs has a ‘Buy’ rating and a $26 price target, according to TheFly. At the time of writing, PENN stock was up 1.35% on Friday.

Wall Street Highlights Penn’s New Properties Supporting Growth

Goldman Sachs stated that Penn offers the most compelling risk/rewards in the gaming sector, with its regional business at an inflection point.

Truist has raised Penn’s price target to $25 from $20 and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating after touring the company’s new Hollywood Aurora property and the recently opened Hollywood Casino Joliet. 

The firm also said that Penn expects these projects to yield a 15% return on investment, noting that Aurora should add $54 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) once fully operational.

Truist added that it has maintained its estimates for now, but keeping these growth projects in mind, the firm has justified its price target hike. 

Citizens’ Take On PENN

Citizens affirmed its ‘Market Outperform’ rating on Penn with a price target of $24 on the stock, after taking tours of the company’s new Illinois casinos, according to an investing.com report.

Citizens also visited the company’s Aurora and Joliet properties. The firm stated that Hollywood Casino Joliet has generated $115 million in gaming revenue since its opening. Citizens expect Aurora to also provide similar results over the next 24 months.   

The company has recently completed four retail projects and earlier this month, started a $100 million, 203-room hotel tower at Hollywood Columbus, according to the report.

Citizens also said that Penn invested about $850 million in these projects, and the firm sees it should generate about $120 million of EBITDAR once fully operational, the report noted.

According to Koyfin data, of the 20 analysts, nine recommend a ‘Hold’ rating, and 11 recommend ‘Buy’ or higher.

What Retail Thinks Of PENN

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment surrounding the stock has improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’, while message volumes have remained in the ‘normal’ territory in the past 24 hours.

PENN stock has gained over 43% so far this year.

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