Bank of America: New Barstool Sportsbook downloaded 29,000 times in first two days
Bank said Kambi-powered app boasts “unique interactive experience” as it raises its price target of Barstool Sports minority shareholder Penn National Gaming to $85
The Barstool Sportsbook app was downloaded 29,000 times in the first 48 hours after its release ahead of the weekend, according to a note from Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley.
Kelley said this was four times higher than FanDuel and DraftKings achieved after they first launched sports betting apps, while the 23,000 downloads Barstool recorded on Saturday alone was a greater number than any single day achieved by the leading sports betting duo.
The Barstool Sportsbook debuted on Friday following a three-day soft launch in time for the second weekend of NFL action, although legal bets can only be placed in Pennsylvania as that is where the product is licensed.
As well as attracting a 4.9-star rating, the Kambi-powered product shot to the top of the sports betting charts in Apple’s App Store. At one point it was leading the free sports category, ahead of apps from the NFL and ESPN, much to the delight of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
#1 sports app #BarstoolSportsbook $penn
GOODNIGHT pic.twitter.com/MvElWIx2NC
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 19, 2020
Despite the rush to install the app, much of the interest could be attributed to curiosity, as Pennsylvania’s over-21 population represents just 4.5% of citizens over 21 years of age across the country. Therefore, Barstool won’t, at least for now, be able to convert most of those people with the app on their devices.
Penn National Gaming (PNG), which took a 36% in sports media company Barstool Sports for around $163m early this year, will use the app’s availability for brand equity in states where the product isn’t available, or sports betting isn’t yet legal.
With Barstool Sports’ purported 66 million monthly unique visitors and an outspoken and divisive founder in the shape of Portnoy, who has 1.8 million Twitter followers, PNG and Barstool are very much targeting recreational bettors and Barstool’s loyal social media following.
Kelley wrote: “Our initial impressions are positive given the app’s ease of use and leverage of the Barstool brand to create a unique interactive experience. We think the app targets more of a casual bettor than competitors.”
Yet he cautioned: “Penn’s ability to drive conversion from downloads to deposits and deposits to bets/revenue is the next critical step.”
Meanwhile, Kelley reiterated his Buy rating for PNG and raised the target price to $85, echoing the price target last week from Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski.
The launch of Barstool Sportsbook and the return of sport is partly the reason why PNG’s share price has been on a tear in the past few months.
The Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based company’s stock currently hovers around $70, up a whopping 1,700% since slumping to below $4 in March as coronavirus began to impact sport and force the closure of land-based gambling properties.
Although the stock has slipped from a new 52-week high of $76 last week, PNG’s market cap sits at almost $10bn.