Penn National began the day trading at $90.75 and over the next several hours soared as high as $102.20 before settling at $100.38. Monday was the first day Penn National hit $100.
Penn National shares are up approximately 25% in just the last week. The company likely benefited from reports in early January that Pennsylvania casinos would be allowed to reopen beginning 4 Jan.
Since acquiring a 36% stake in Barstool Sports, Penn National trading has skyrocketed. The company was trading below $5 in mid-March when US casinos first shut down. That was less than a month after the Barstool acquisition.
The launch of Barstool Sportsbook and brand publicity from Barstool founder Dave Portnoy increased Penn National’s visibility relative to other publicly traded gaming companies.
The Barstool Sportsbook app is immensely popular in Penn National’s home state of Pennsylvania. The app is set to launch in Michigan later this month.
In the last month, Penn National trading has surpassed Caesars Entertainment ($78.27), while MGM Resorts continues to lag behind. MGM ended Monday at $30.79.
Penn National could realistically top FanDuel parent company Flutter Entertainment ($106.24) in the coming days or weeks. DraftKings, meanwhile, is trading at half of Flutter’s value ($53.60).