Golden Entertainment: Downgrade Misses The Forest For The Trees

  • Golden Entertainment's deleveraging and strong cash flow support robust buybacks and dividends, offering at least 7% annual shareholder returns even in conservative scenarios. Despite a downgrade from Truist Securities citing Strat weakness and muted M&A prospects, I maintain my $32 price target and 'Buy' rating, seeing the downgrade as an opportunity. Q2 headwinds are real but manageable; room occupancy and slot performance show resilience, and FCF coverage for dividends and buybacks remains solid under all scenarios.