Investment management giant Apollo Global Management (APO) has its fingers in a lot of pies out there. In fact, since 2014, it has owned the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, CEC Entertainment. And Chuck E. Cheese is making a major comeback since its bankruptcy days. But this proved little help to Apollo, who lost over 3.5% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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A CNBC report noted that CEC Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in 2020, after the COVID-19 closures largely took it out of business. But it has been working on a comeback ever since, and is set to drop $300 million on a series of revamping measures in a bid to make Chuck E. Cheese a place where, once more, a kid can be a kid.
First on the list, the report noted, is trampolines. Growth in family entertainment, CEC found, has been coming from “active play” sectors like rock-climbing walls or trampolines, and Chuck E. Cheese had plenty of opportunity to expand therein. Over 450 locations now feature “kid-sized trampolines,” though these come with an extra fee for use. SkyTubes and ball pits, however, are off the table, and have been for years, or even decades, outright.
The Animatronics are Dead
However, there is one hole in the lineup: animatronics. Those kind-of-creepy robots that made Five Nights at Freddy’s the media juggernaut it is today are out of the picture at Chuck E. Cheese, replaced with “floor-to-ceiling JumboTrons” that are reflective of kids “…consuming entertainment in a whole new way.”
For those who want to relive those days, however, an Audacy report may have the solution. The National Bobblehead Museum has recently rolled out the first ever bobblehead from Chuck E. Cheese: Munch’s Make-Believe Band. A special release for National Bobblehead Week, interested buyers can pick up a $30 bobblehead of Chuck E. Cheese himself, or the entire band for $75. With only 2,025 bobbleheads available, they may go quickly.
Is Apollo Global Management a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on APO stock based on 13 Buys and four Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 66.06% rally in its share price over the past year, the average APO price target of $185.13 per share implies 18.11% upside potential.
