{"id":183209,"date":"2021-08-18T09:38:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T16:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=183209"},"modified":"2021-10-05T10:16:26","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:16:26","slug":"caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesars, Penn National Among Best-Performing Stocks Since COVID-19 Market Bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"

From its coronavirus-induced trough on March 23, 2020 through Aug. 17, 2021, the S&P 500 doubled, marking one of the swiftest bear-to-bull market shifts on record. A pair of well-known gaming equities are among the best-performing names since that market bottom.<\/p>\n

\"market
Tourists walk to the entrance of Caesars Palace Las Vegas, pictured above. That gaming stock is one of the best performers since the March 2020 market bottom. (Image: David Paul Morris\/Bloomberg<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the COVID-19 market bottom, Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) and Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN) are two of the top five members of the S&P 500 in terms of price appreciation. The pair are recent additions<\/a> to the benchmark domestic equity gauge, joining it in March.<\/p>\n

As of Aug. 17, Caesars returned 737 percent from its March 23, 2020 low, while Penn National surged 592 percent.<\/p>\n

At a closing price of 4,479.71 on Monday, the S&P 500 officially doubled<\/a> from its March 2020 pandemic-era low. All but seven stocks saw gains over that period, with the biggest winners split across a group of health-care and consumer discretionary names,\u201d according to CNBC<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gaming stocks reside in the consumer discretionary sector. But Caesars and Penn are the only casino operators among the top 10 S&P 500 names since the March 2020 bottom.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Harrah’s operator is the second-best member of the index since March 23, 2020, trailing only Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA). That may not be a fair comparison, because that biotech company is the maker of one the most-used COVID-19 vaccines. Its shares returned more than 1,300 percent since March 23, 2020.<\/p>\n

Caesars, Penn Author Impressive Redemption Stories<\/h2>\n

During the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, all domestic gaming companies endured multi-month shutdowns of their US venues. But Caesars and Penn were among the most savagely repudiated.<\/p>\n

Shares of \u201cold Caesars\u201d and Eldorado Resorts — the company that eventually acquired Caesars for $17.3 billion — tumbled amid fears that a crimped credit market<\/a> would not be open to the junk-rated suitor, stoking speculation the deal wouldn’t make it to the finish line.<\/p>\n

\n

The high-yield bond and leveraged loan markets all but froze in March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic gripped riskier assets, stoking speculation that the banks would encounter difficulty<\/a> in finding willing buyers for Eldorado and Caesars paper. Ultimately, the marriage creating the largest US casino operator by number of properties was consummated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Though it wasn’t attempting to execute a merger, Penn found itself in a similar position, as market participants punished non-investment grade companies with large debt burdens across all sectors. The Pennsylvania-based gaming company slumped below $4 in March 2020. But it took just a year for the stock to race to $142<\/a>, as investors flocked to the name as a play on the online sports betting boom.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus Market Effects<\/h2>\n

Historically, the S&P 500 has needed about 1,000 trading days to double from a bear market bottom. But the coronavirus bounce took just 354 trading days, according to CNBC.<\/i><\/p>\n

Of interest to investors in casino stocks is that the consumer discretionary sector is merely tied for fifth-best among the 11 sectors since March 2020. That indicates some gaming names are outperforming the broader consumer cyclical group.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just seven S&P 500 members are in the red since the coronavirus market bottom, and one is a gaming equity: Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS). That name was hampered by a surprisingly slow recovery<\/a> in Macau — its largest market — and a lack of exposure to iGaming and sports betting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From its coronavirus-induced trough on March 23, 2020 through Aug. 17, 2021, the S&P 500 doubled, marking one of the swiftest bear-to-bull market shifts on record. A pair of well-known gaming equities are among the best-performing names since that market bottom. Since the COVID-19 market bottom, Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) and Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN) are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":183210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,81881,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCaesars, Penn Among Best S&P 500 Stocks Coronavirus Market Bottom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Caesars, Penn National are two of the best S&P 500 names since the March 2020 market nadir.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caesars, Penn Among Best S&P 500 Stocks Coronavirus Market Bottom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caesars, Penn National are two of the best S&P 500 names since the March 2020 market nadir.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-18T16:38:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-05T17:16:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CP81821-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/\",\"name\":\"Caesars, Penn Among Best S&P 500 Stocks Coronavirus Market Bottom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CP81821-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-18T16:38:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-05T17:16:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Caesars, Penn National are two of the best S&P 500 names since the March 2020 market nadir.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-penn-among-best-sp-500-stocks-coronavirus-market-bottom\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CP81821-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CP81821-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1709,\"caption\":\"Caesars Palace Las Vegas. 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