Analysts like Century Casinos, so do investors

Colorado-based Century Casinos has been doing some shopping lately, buying casinos in West Virginia and Missouri and possibly considering other potential targets. The enlarged footprint didn’t have any immediate payoff, as the casino operator reported a weak performance in the third quarter.

Most likely, as industry analysts pointed out, this was just a temporary hiccup since the latest properties were only just getting going under their new ownership. That sentiment has now been reinforced as analysts have weighed in and see an extremely bright future for the company.

Chad Benyon of Macquarie initiated covered of Century, which is traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CNTY, and immediately jumped in with optimism. He asserts that the company’s stock deserves a rating of “Outperform” and put a price target of $11 on the stock – an upside of 25% over its latest trading price (it closed yesterday at $8.58 after opening at $8.68).

The recent purchases, which came through a deal with Eldorado Resorts International, are the main catalyst for the optimism. Benyon explains, “Over the last ten years, CNTY doubled the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) (EBITDAR) in 2015 and will again in 2020, in our view. This is, in part, due to the $107m acquisition of three mature Eldorado Resorts properties.”