Penn Entertainment Stock Is Upgraded as ESPN Bet ‘Dominating’ Download Activity

Penn sold Barstool Sports back to founder Dave Portnoy over the summer. 
Walt Disney
(DIS) sold the ESPN trademark to Penn in August as the entertainment giant looked to expand into the growing popularity of online sports betting. Penn then re-branded Barstool Sportsbook as ESPN Bet.

“ESPN Bet is dominating initial download activity and charts, proving it is cutting through to customers,” Kelley wrote in a research note. The analyst notes that the ESPN Bet app has been in both the top one and two spots of all free apps on the
Apple
(AAPL) iOS store since last Tuesday.

Shares of Penn were climbing 5.8% Monday to $26.01, which would be the stock’s highest close since Aug. 9, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock has dropped 12% this year.

Online sports betting is a highly competitive space with few players in the field. ESPN Bet is competing against companies like
Flutter Entertainment’s
(FLTR) FanDuel and
DraftKings
(DKNG).

Separately, BTIG analyst Clark Lampen increased his price target on
DraftKings
to $47 from $38 on Monday and maintained his Buy rating on the stock.

“While shares have more than doubled since we upgraded in mid-February, we still don’t believe they fully discount the fundamental upside potentially ahead and a higher probability of realizing that upside, per recent improvements in economics and execution,” Lampen wrote.

DraftKings stock has climbed 239% this year. The sports-betting company reported earlier this month that monthly unique players gained 40% in the third quarter from a year ago, with average revenue per monthly unique players also rising.

“We believe the company is poised to remain one of the market leaders, despite substantial competition, in a rapidly expanding U.S. ecosystem,” Lampen said. Shares of DraftKings were rising 0.7% to $38.64 Monday and were on pace for their highest close since November 2021.

Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]