Here’s Why Carillon Tower Advisers Became “Very Bullish” in Penn National Gaming (PENN)

Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management firm, published its “Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Small-cap stocks overall posted minor gains in the final quarter of 2021. In what has become a common theme, the Russell 2000® Growth Index (up 0.02%) trailed its Russell 2000® Value Index (up 4.36%) counterpart for the fifth consecutive quarter. Sector returns across the Russell 2000 Growth Index were mostly positive, with the defensively oriented utilities (up 14.18%) and real estate (up 13.94%) sectors leading the way. Industrials (up 9.73%), financials (up 9.05%), and consumer staples (up 5.67%) also provided returns that outpaced the benchmark. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) and discussed its stance on the firm. Penn National Gaming, Inc. is a Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based casino company with an $8.4 billion market capitalization. PENN delivered a -3.32% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -57.81%. The stock closed at $50.13 per share on February 11, 2022.

Here is what Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund has to say about Penn National Gaming, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

Penn National Gaming is a diversified omnichannel provider of retail and online gaming, live racing, and sports betting entertainment. The stock sold off a bit after a quarterly update came in slightly below expectations, which was largely a result of the impact that Hurricane Ida and the reemergence of COVID had on its landbased operations. Despite this, the company’s mobile sportsbook app is now live in more than 10 states and continues to gain market share. We are also very bullish on the prospects for the company’s land-based casinos going forward.”

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Our calculations show that Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. PENN was in 38 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 40 funds in the previous quarter. Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) delivered a -13.94% return in the past 3 months.

In December 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on PENN in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.