UPDATE: Nomura Reiterates Neutral Rating, Lowers PT on Penn National Gaming Following Q2 Miss, Limited Potential Upside

In a report published Wednesday, Nomura analyst Harry C. Curtis reiterated a Neutral rating on Penn National Gaming PENN, but lowered the price target from $60.00 to $53.00. In the report, Nomura noted, “In addition to the Q2 miss, PENN attributed the decline primarily to lower ramp expectations at the OH properties, in particular Columbus (essentially assuming no improvement at the OH properties) and construction disruption at Hollywood St. Louis. Mgmt also indicated the June soft trends have continued into July thus far. PENN lowered 2013 EBITDA guidance to $805M, which was well below the low end of consensus (between $834–840M, and we were at $835M). Guidance appears to be very conservative and short of significant M&A activity post spin, we see limited potential upside in the stock.” Penn National Gaming closed on Tuesday at $49.98.