Meet the 31p penny stock that’s forecast to smash Lloyds shares over the next 12 months

Penny stocks are known for their explosive growth potential. And right now, even with the supportive backdrop for banks like Lloyds, there’s one under-the-radar micro-cap company that’s seemingly primed to potentially vastly outperform in 2026.

In fact, if the experts are correct, a £1,000 investment in this tiny business could almost double to £1,935 by this time next year. By comparison, the forecasts surrounding Lloyds’ shares suggest an outcome of only £1,250.

So what is this mystery stock? And should investors rush to buy?

A capital-light gaming leader

Following a successful transition away from running its own consumer-facing gambling sites, Gaming Realms (LSE:GMR) now licenses mobile-optimised casino games for other gambling operators around the world.

The business model’s pretty simple. Gaming Realms builds the games for players, licenses them to regulated online casinos, and receives a share of the revenues generated.

Since the company doesn’t have to deal with the hassle of attracting players and running a gambling site, its underlying margins are among the highest in the sector. In fact, looking at the latest trading update, its popular portfolio of titles generated £31.4m in revenue last year – £15m of which was core underlying profit.

That’s a 47.8% adjusted EBITDA margin business growing at a double-digit rate on a near-debt-free balance sheet – an exceptional rarity for penny stocks. And it’s on the back of these highly scalable unit economics that the team of analysts at Peel Hunt have issued a 60p share price target.

Compared to where the penny stock trades today, that represents a 93.5% potential return over the next 12 months! So what’s the catch?

Risk versus reward

Such explosive potential performance rarely comes risk-free. And Gaming Realms’s no exception. While the firm has a vast portfolio of 200+ games, most are built entirely around one game format: Slingo – a hybrid bingo-slot machine mechanic.

So far, this has proven to be quite lucrative. But it also introduces significant concentration risk. If a competitor launches a credible Slingo alternative that online casino operators prefer, or consumer tastes shift away from this style of gaming, revenues could quickly dry up.

Even if Gaming Realms stays ahead of rival developers and shifting consumer tastes, there remains the ever-present regulatory risk. Restrictions on online gambling operators could handicap long-term growth, something we’ve already seen here in the UK.

And while Gaming Realms now generates the bulk of earnings from the US, future regulatory changes across the pond could similarly adversely impact the business. So is it worth the risk?

The bottom line

The regulatory landscape surrounding Gaming Realms is complicated. But with the business having extensive long-term experience in navigating these headwinds, an underlying price-to-EBITDA ratio of just 5.8 seems unusually cheap for a business with near-50% profit margins.

Investors will be getting a much more detailed picture of the business when management releases its full-year 2025 results at the end of March. And if there are no glaring red flags, investors may want to consider taking a closer look at this potential hidden gem of a penny stock.

The post Meet the 31p penny stock that’s forecast to smash Lloyds shares over the next 12 months appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

More reading

• Experts think this penny stock could rise by 80% or more in the coming year

Zaven Boyrazian has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

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