Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Monarch Casino & Resort (MCRI +0.66%) were cooling off today, falling as much as 20% after the company's earnings report failed to impress.
So what: The owner of the Atlantis Casino in Reno and the Monarch Casino Black Hawk in Colorado said earnings per share were in line with estimates at $0.32, and that revenue of $48.9 million was slightly below estimates of $49.3 million. Monarch's Colorado casino was affected by flooding in the state, forcing the property to be closed for four days and disrupting key feeder markets for the location. Because of the flooding, EBITDA growth at the Monarch casino was flat, while it improved 8.9% for Atlantis. Monarch also received a downgrade from Brean Capital, from buy to hold, based on valuation.
Now what: Brean analyst Justin Sebastiano seemed to echo the market's sentiment, saying, "Our positive FY 14 outlook appears to already be in the stock." Monarch shares had gained 131% since April before today's drop thanks to huge earnings beats, so investors may have been expecting more of the same. With only modest growth expected next year, the stock seems fully priced at a P/E of 18.
