Bear of the Day: Caesars Entertainment (CZR)

Caesars Entertainment CZR, a diversified gaming and hospitality company, generates revenue through gaming operations, including mobile, online gaming, and sports betting. It also utilizes its hotels, restaurants, bars, entertainment, racing, sportsbook offerings, retail shops, and other services to attract customers to its properties.Analysts have dialed back their earnings expectations across the board, landing the stock into an unfavorable Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchLet’s take a closer look at how it presently stacks up.Ceasars EntertainmentCZR shares have struggled so far in 2025, down roughly 18% and widely underperforming relative to the S&P 500. Quarterly results haven’t been strong overall relative to our consensus expectations, with the company falling short of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate by an average of 67% across its last four releases.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchMuted sales growth has also been a driving force behind the poor share performance over recent years, as shown below. Sales of $2.9 billion in its latest period grew by a modest 1.9% YoY, which followed negative growth rates in each of the prior three periods.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchNonetheless, the company remains positive, with Bret Yunker, CFO, stating –“We continue to expect 2025 to benefit from meaningfully lower year-over-year capital expenditures and cash interest expense. When combined with strong operating fundamentals, free cash flow this year will show a significant improvement. Accelerating free cash flow in 2025 will allow us to continue to reduce debt alongside opportunistic share repurchases during market dislocations. To that end, we repurchased $100 million of our shares during April at an average price of $23.84 per share.” Bottom LineNegative earnings estimate revisions, resulting from soft quarterly results, paint a challenging picture for the company’s shares in the near term.Caesars Entertainment CZR is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), indicating that analysts have taken a bearish stance on the company’s earnings outlook.For those seeking strong stocks, the best idea would be to focus on stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) – these stocks sport a notably stronger earnings outlook paired with the potential to deliver explosive gains in the near term.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (CZR): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks