Will Dmitry Balyasny’s Bets On Churchill Downs, Penn National Gaming Pay Out Following Triple Crown Win?

Another racing and casino company lands in the second spot in terms of Balyasny’s top small-cap picks, this one being the Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN). Balyasny decreased his stake slightly during the quarter, by 2%, leaving him with 908,290 shares with a value of $104.43 million. Churchill Downs, founded in 1875, has returned an even more impressive 30% on the NASDAQ year-to-date, boosted by a record in earnings last year, making it one of the better gaming companies on the exchange.  The company’s acquisition of Big Fish Games, which was closed in late 2014, is expected to further boost Churchills’ earnings and has been a driver for the stock during the spring. Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN) was also trying to acquire a number of other casinos around the U.S during the winter, though without success. The company’s earnings for the first quarter, posted on April 27, also helped to boost the stock, with an earnings per share of $0.07 beat analysts expectations of a loss of $0.13. Other large shareholders of Churchill are Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro‘s PAR Capital Management, owning 1.29 million shares, and Three Bays Capital, owning 1.08 million shares.

Balyasny opened a new stake in Silicon Valley-based Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) during the first quarter, with it consisting of 6.59 million shares valued at $92.97 million. Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY), founded in 1982 and a public company since its IPO in 1986, has not been as fortunate as the two racing companies, losing over 6% year-to-date. Analysts do however believe there is plenty of room back to the positive side, targeting a share price $16.85 on average, potential upside of nearly 27%. This week it was revealed that Cypress’ attempts to buy Integrated Silicon Solution (NASDAQ:ISSI) have finally ended in failure after anti-trust concerns scuttled the deal. ISS was concerned that a merger of the two companies would require anti-trust filings in the U.S and Germany, the latter of which a combined company would control 70% of the market. Jerome Debs‘ Bodri Capital Management also began to build a position in Cypress by acquiring 321,867 shares with a value of $4.54 million during the first quarter.

Disclosure: None