{"id":297,"date":"2025-12-31T13:47:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/2025\/12\/31\/monarch-casino-inching-closer-to-finding-acquisition-target-says-analyst\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T13:47:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:47:22","slug":"monarch-casino-inching-closer-to-finding-acquisition-target-says-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/2025\/12\/31\/monarch-casino-inching-closer-to-finding-acquisition-target-says-analyst\/","title":{"rendered":"Monarch Casino Inching Closer to Finding Acquisition Target, Says Analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Regional casino operator is frequently attached to M&amp;A rumors, but hasn\u2019t made a deal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Company is known to be highly selective when it comes to evaluating acquisitions<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It\u2019s unlikely to buy a casino in Nevada<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Monarch Casino &amp; Resort (NASDAQ: MCRI) is one of the gaming companies most frequently attached to industry consolidation rumors, but it hasn\u2019t expanded its two-property portfolio.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_260308\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-260308\" data-style=\"width: 430px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-260308 size-post-thumbnail-430xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Monarch Black Hawk Casino\" width=\"430\" height=\"310\" sizes=\"(max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mbh-resort-700x504x72-430x310.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mbh-resort-700x504x72-430x310.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mbh-resort-700x504x72.jpg 700w\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-260308\"class=\"text-description\">Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk, Colo. The operater may be close to making an acquisition. (Image: MonarchBlackHawk.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That could be close to changing. Maybe. Following recent meetings with management of the Reno-based operator, Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas said Monarch continues to evaluate potential acquisition opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Management continues to evaluate the M&amp;A landscape noting that this is \u2018the most opportunistic time in the past 5 years\u2019 for the company,\u201d observes Jonas, who rates the stock a \u201cbuy\u201d with a $120 price target.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Monarch\u2019s roster of gaming venues remains comprised of the Atlantis in Reno and its namesake property in Black Hawk, Colo. With just two venues, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/monarch-casino-still-picky-on-ma-could-deliver-another-special-dividend\/\">the company is the smallest<\/a> publicly traded casino operator as measured by number of properties.<\/p>\n<h2>Monarch Casino Notoriously Selective Regarding Acquisitions<\/h2>\n<p>For as frequently as the operator is tied to industry consolidation rumors, Monarch Casino is equally, if not more so, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/monarch-casino-mulling-acquisitions-sees-strength-in-colorado\/\">selective when it comes<\/a> to acquisitions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>That&#8217;s to say, the operator won\u2019t do a deal simply to increase the size of its portfolio. Investors benefit from that selectivity because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/eldorado-seals-caesars-deal-largest-gaming-company-created\/\">not all splashy<\/a> gaming industry deals pay dividends for buyers and their shareholders. Some large-scale transactions can be messy and take years to benefit the buyers and their investors.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For its part, Monarch has some boxes that need to be checked before it executes a deal. As Jonas points out, the Atlantis operator would go up to 4x leverage to get a deal done, but it wants the target to have at least $150 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) with potential to generate \u201chigh teens\u201d return on investment.<\/p>\n<p>The analyst adds that Monarch will only consider acquisitions in which real estate is included, meaning it doesn\u2019t want to take on long-term lease obligations simply to add another casino.<\/p>\n<h2>Monarch Casino Has Regional Qualifications, Too<\/h2>\n<p>Adding to the aforementioned selectivity, Monarch has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/boyd-churchill-downs-monarch-could-be-players-in-casino-ma\/\">some regional qualifiers<\/a> when it comes to deal-making. For example, Nevada is likely off its shopping list because it doesn\u2019t want to threaten its Atlantis property in Reno, and it wants to avoid the intense competition in Las Vegas, according to Jonas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Likewise, Monarch is stridently opposed to internet casinos, implying that it will probably avoid acquisitions in any of the seven states in which iGaming is permitted. Another large state with a massive casino market is also likely out of play.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIllinois is also less desirable given the unstable regulatory environment,\u201d concludes Jonas. \u201cThat said, management reiterated that it&#8217;s always possible to find unique opportunities even in markets with unattractive characteristics. Non-gaming hospitality venues are also on management\u2019s radar as a potential M&amp;A target.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/monarch-casino-inching-closer-to-finding-acquisition-target\/\">Monarch Casino Inching Closer to Finding Acquisition Target, Says Analyst<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regional casino operator is frequently attached to M&#38;A rumors, but hasn\u2019t made a deal Company is known to be highly selective when it comes to evaluating acquisitions It\u2019s unlikely to buy a ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mergers-acquisitions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeemug.club\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}