The future is bright for Penn Entertainment , according to JPMorgan. The firm upgraded the online sports betting stock to overweight from neutral and raised its price target to $27 per share from $19. JPMorgan’s forecast implies nearly 35% upside from Thursday’s close. PENN YTD mountain Penn Entertainment stock. “We presently see a favorable risk-reward, with sightline to a bottoming of its regional land-based-casino cashflow generation (easy comparisons helping), with a path to aggregate growth (albeit modest) given $850m worth of 4 capital projects beginning to bear fruit and ultimately generate attractive double-digit cash-on-cash-returns beginning in 2H25 and later into 2026,” analyst Joseph Greff said. The analyst added that, even though he views the growth of ESPN Bet as the biggest driver for the stock, “we see a scenario of modestly positive segment EBITDA (in 2026) as not priced in the shares” which is “not that much more than PENN’s estimated annual market access fees.” “This is noteworthy because if PENN is less than successful in Interactive profitability, the company simply could/would shut it down and milk the $60m-ish of market access fees,” Greff added. Penn Entertainment has slipped more than 23% in 2024. Shares were up more than 5% in the premarket following the upgrade. Of the 21 analysts who cover the stock, 12 rate it as a hold, according to LSEG.
