Why Dave and Buster’s Is Wednesday’s Big Earnings Loser

When Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) released its fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Tuesday, the company said that it had $0.30 in earnings per share (EPS) and $282.1 in revenue. That compared with consensus estimates of $0.21 in EPS and $274.2 million in revenue, as well as the $0.29 per share and $250.0 million posted in the same period of last year.

Across all stores, Food and Beverage revenues increased 10.3% to $118.8 million from $107.7 million, and Amusement and Other revenues increased 14.8% to $163.3 million from $142.3 million. Food and Beverage represented 42.1% of total revenues, while Amusements and Other represented 57.9% of total revenues in the third quarter 2018.

In this most recent quarter, the comparable store sales decreased 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. This comparable store sales decline was driven by a 0.7% decrease in walk-in sales and a 6.9% decrease in special events sales.

Looking ahead to the fiscal full year, the company expects to see comparable store sales decrease low single-digits and total revenues in the range of $1.243 billion to $1.255 billion. Consensus estimates call for $2.79 in EPS and $1.25 billion in revenue for the year.

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CEO Brian Jenkins commented:

Driven by strong unit growth, we delivered record top line results for the third quarter. Comparable store sales improved sequentially as we continued to make progress on our key strategic priorities. With the 2017 class of stores on track to generate one of our best cash-on-cash returns in recent history, we are more confident than ever in our ability to drive double-digit unit growth and benefit from the large opportunity ahead.

Shares of Dave & Buster’s were last seen down 9% at $46.33, with a 52-week range of $37.85 to $67.05. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $70.78.

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