Jim Cramer on Monarch Casino: “This Thing Deserves Its Incredible Rally”

Jim Cramer on Monarch Casino: “This Thing Deserves Its Incredible Rally” Syeda Seirut Javed Fri, May 8, 2026 at 10:07 PM GMT+7 2 min read MCRI ^GSPC Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) was one of the stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar as he highlighted AI winners to buy for 2026. Cramer praised the company’s balance sheet, as he remarked:

… In the past 12 months, Monarch Casino & Resorts has rallied nearly 50%, trouncing both the S&P 500 and its larger rivals in the casino space… This thing deserves its incredible rally. Monarch reported a terrific quarter a little over two weeks ago. Monarch’s got a clean balance sheet with basically zero long-term debt, regular capital investment at both properties, takes market share from their competitors, and steady cash return for shareholders…

How about the stock itself? Well, Monarch now, it sells for roughly 18 times this year’s earnings, and given its growth rate, I think that’s a fair price. This is clearly a good one, although I’m wary of getting too bullish on a consumer discretionary name right now with the price of gasoline going ever higher. Still, we need to understand this story and how come Monarch keeps outperforming the heavy hitters in the space. Most of these stocks have been hammered since the war with Iran started, okay, because oil spiked. People are very worried about the state of consumer now. You know that. I think the real problem with the big international casinos though is not the state of consumer here. It’s the state of consumer overseas…