{"id":299793,"date":"2023-11-20T14:38:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T20:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=299793"},"modified":"2023-11-20T15:03:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T21:03:52","slug":"penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Entertainment Stock Soars on ESPN Bet Enthusiasm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) ranked as one of Monday\u2019s best-performing gaming stocks amid enthusiasm for the newly launched ESPN Bet mobile sports wagering application.<\/p>\n

\"ESPN
The ESPN Bet logo. Shares of Penn Entertainment surged Monday after an analyst upgraded the stock due to ESPN Bet enthusiasm. (Image: ESPN Bet)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The regional casino operator launched ESPN Bet in 17 states on November 15 with its new iGaming brand, Hollywood Casino, making its debut in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia on the same day. Data indicate bettors are, at the very least, kicking the tires on the new offering from Penn.<\/p>\n

ESPN Bet is dominating initial download activity and charts, proving it is cutting through to customers. ESPN Bet has been #1 or #2 of all free apps on the iOS store since last Tuesday, with 865K cumulative downloads and a 4.8 app store rating, even without data from NFL Sunday,\u201d wrote Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley in a note to clients.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He upgraded Penn to \u201cbuy\u201d from \u201cneutral\u201d while lifting his price target to $30 from $27, contributing to today\u2019s pop in the shares. In late trading, Penn stock is higher by 7.33% on volume that\u2019s well above the daily average.<\/p>\n

ESPN Bet Could Be Winner for Network, Penn<\/h2>\n

After several years of failing to attach its venerable brand to a sports wagering outfit, ESPN<\/em> announced in August that it was teaming up with Penn to create ESPN Bet. As part of that agreement, Penn is paying ESPN<\/em> parent Walt Disney<\/a> (NYSE: DIS) $1.5 billion over 10 years.<\/p>\n

\n

Penn is also granting ESPN<\/em> $500 million in warrants that allow the network to buy approximately 31.8 million shares in the casino company, vesting ratably over 10 years, meaning Disney is somewhat levered to increases and declines by the regional casino operator\u2019s stock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Reportedly, Penn wasn\u2019t ESPN\u2019s<\/em> first choice, nor its second,<\/a> in terms of gaming companies to work with. However, the casino operator\u2019s financial offer coupled with the network\u2019s need to be more directly involved in sports wagering may have sealed the deal. Moving forward, it\u2019s possible the pact could benefit both sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think ESPN Bet creates an asymmetric risk-reward, with 1) initial download and app activity much stronger than anticipated, 2) initial offers showing promotional discipline, and 3) stable Q3 earnings being better than expected for PENN\u2019s core gaming business,\u201d added Kelley.<\/p>\n

More to Penn Stock Story<\/h2>\n

Since January 2020, when it acquired a 36% stake in David Portnoy\u2019s Barstool Sports<\/em><\/a>, many investors have viewed Penn as an online gaming company. With that, following a torrid run in 2020, the stock disappointed as it failed to rival FanDuel and DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) in terms of online sports betting market share.<\/p>\n

\n

Regional casinos remain the primary drivers of Penn\u2019s earnings and revenue and that may be an underappreciated trait at a time when the operator is less exposed to competitive pressures in markets such as Atlantic City, NJ, Chicago, and Tunica, Miss.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bank of America\u2019s Kelley observed Penn is cutting costs and because its margins didn\u2019t rapidly expand soon after COVID-19, there\u2019s less room for margin disappointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) ranked as one of Monday\u2019s best-performing gaming stocks amid enthusiasm for the newly launched ESPN Bet mobile sports wagering application. The regional casino operator launched ESPN Bet in 17 states on November 15 with its new iGaming brand, Hollywood Casino, making its debut in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":294561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,19,1074],"tags":[81903,81871,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPenn Entertainment Stock Jumps With Help From ESPN Bet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Penn Entertainment shares surge following analyst upgrade help by ESPN Bet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Penn Entertainment Stock Jumps With Help From ESPN Bet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Penn Entertainment shares surge following analyst upgrade help by ESPN Bet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T20:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T21:03:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ESPN-BET-Logo-Primary-1352x1080-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/\",\"name\":\"Penn Entertainment Stock Jumps With Help From ESPN Bet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ESPN-BET-Logo-Primary-1352x1080-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-20T20:38:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-20T21:03:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Penn Entertainment shares surge following analyst upgrade help by ESPN Bet.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-entertainment-stock-jumps-with-help-from-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ESPN-BET-Logo-Primary-1352x1080-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ESPN-BET-Logo-Primary-1352x1080-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The ESPN Bet logo. An analyst is constructive on operator Penn Entertainment, citing multiple factors. 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