Penn National Gaming hits record high, extending one week gain to 31% ahead of S&P 500 inclusion
- Penn National Gaming jumped to an all-time high of $142 ahead of its inclusion in the S&P 500 next week.
- The Barstool Sports stakeholder has rallied over 20% in the last five days.
- Barstool founder Dave Portnoy tweeted "a lot of people" have told him he's now "the king of the S&P 500."
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Penn National Gaming jumped to an all time-high of $142 a share on Monday, recording a 31% gain since the stock's closing price on March 5 as investors cheered its inclusion in the S&P 500.
On Friday S&P Dow Jones Indices announced it will add Penn National Gaming into the S&P 500 benchmark index on March 22. Penn was previously in the S&P 400 MidCap index.
The company acquired a 36% stake in Barstool sports in January 2020, and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy says he owns "a ton of Penn Stock," in his twitter bio.
"They tell me the S&P 500 are the 500 most American, most dominant, most influential, most spectacular companies in the universe," Portnoy said in a video he tweeted Monday morning. "I am now- a lot of people saying, their words not mine-the king of the S&P 500, hence, the king of America."
Penn has gained almost 3,000% since its intraday low of $3.75 on March 18 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. It's a sign that investors are betting big on the rebound of sports betting and casinos. Casino company peer Caesars Entertainment is also being added to the S&P 500, along with Generac Holdings, a power generator manufacturer.
Penn, Generac Holdings, and Caesars Entertainment will replace SL Green Realty , Xerox Holdings, and Vontier, which will move to the S&P MidCap 400.
Shares of Penn National Gaming pared gains after the Monday morning spike and are currently hovering around $134.
