Factors Setting the Tone for Penn National (PENN) Q1 Earnings

Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN is scheduled to report first-quarter 2019 results on May 7, 2020. In the last reported quarter, the company’s bottom line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 316.2%.

Q1 Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at 20 cents, lower than 35 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Over the past 30 days, the company’s earnings estimates have witnessed sharp downward revisions. The consensus estimates for revenues stands at $1.28 billion, indicating a decline of 0.4% from the prior-year reported figure.

Factors to Note

Penn National’s first-quarter results are likely to reflect the impact of coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the company has temporarily halted all revenues generating operations since mid-March on account of the pandemic. Moreover, sharp increase in expenses due to the coronavirus-induced shut downs might have negatively impacted the company’s results in the quarter to be reported.

However, robust performance of the company’s Northeast segment is likely to have aided the to-be-reported quarter’s revenues. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Northeast segment’s first-quarter revenues is pegged at $631 million, suggesting an improvement of 12.7% year over year. The company’s first-quarter performance is expected to have benefited from consistent business strategies and strong brand recognition. Further, the results are likely to reflect robust sports betting business.

Penn National Gaming, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Penn National Gaming, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Penn National Gaming, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Penn National Gaming, Inc. Quote

What Our Model Says

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Penn National this time around. A stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. This is not the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Penn National has an Earnings ESP of -203.89%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates

Here are some stocks from the Zacks Consumer Discretionary space that investors may consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

GP Strategies Corporation GPX has an Earnings ESP of +58.33% and a Zacks Rank #3, at present.

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. BJ currently has an Earnings ESP of +7.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Glu Mobile Inc. GLUU currently has an Earnings ESP of +600.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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