As we wrote last week, we expect a sizeable Q3 beat out of PENN tomorrow. In preparation for the PENN Q3, we’ve put together the pertinent forward looking commentary from the Q2 earnings release/call and subsequent conferences.
Post Earnings Conference Commentary
- “We’ve got some properties doing exceptionally well, mostly surrounding table games, but other than that, I would say that the consumer is still struggling. And we don’t forecast for next year that, that’s going to change, well at least, we’re going to operate under the assumption that the consumer is going to continue to spend at the current levels of their spending at, and knock on wood, they don’t actually struggle anymore.”
- “We are very happy with what’s happening with table games in West Virginia, and we know that these percentages will be coming down. So, next year, I don’t believe we’ll have any property north of 20% of our EBITDA.”
- “Our table games went live in July, it’s been just a staggering success. We’ve been incredibly happy with the results in Charles Town. Normally, we estimated our table games play to be a function of what our slots revenues were, and candidly, our best property before this was Lawrenceburg and Charles Town. I think Lawrenceburg was in the 15% range, and Charles Town has been averaging somewhere around 25%.”
- “Penn National’s results have been very good.”
- “We now own two of the racetracks in Ohio. It’s a bit of a hedge. We’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen with VLTs in Ohio. At this point, it doesn’t look like anything is going to happen before the election. And quite candidly, we think it’s going to be obviously a more focused discussion post-election time”
- “Our view on Texas is, it is, we believe, very likely that gaming will come to Texas – I don’t know if it’s very likely, certainly north of 50%. And we want to be a part of it. And we wanted to be a part of it from -- in a way that gave us standing to participate in the process.”
- “If gaming does come to Texas, it’s our belief that it will almost undoubtedly – if gaming comes, we’ll undoubtedly include gaming at the racetrack. That doesn’t mean that they won’t have other standalone facilities in the state, but we are convinced that if they do in fact come up with a measure in Texas for gaming, that tracks would be included.”
- “It also gives us the ability to have standing in terms of being able to lobby in the State of Texas with credibility; that’s incredibly important.”
- [Perryville] “Our margins are clearly going to be challenged somewhere in the low-to-mid-teens perhaps potentially we can do a little better for a while. But I think that’s probably closer to where we’re thinking.”
- “Relative to guidance, nothing has changed.”
Q2 Conference Call:
- “I guess I could characterize our business as, well, not wonderful but it’s stable and there are some bright spots that we will highlight further through our presentation.”
- “We’re still seeing the same kind of consumer trends that we saw in prior quarters. It hasn’t gotten any better; it hasn’t gotten any worse. As you look at the unemployment levels around the markets we operate in and you look at the housing prices, I mean we’re still seeing softness on both of those macroeconomic fronts and it’s reflective in our consumer.”