Dave & Buster’s Drops In After-Hours As Sales Plunge 85%

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment reported lower-than-expected 2Q revenues. Its top-line plunged 85% to $50.8 million year-on-year and missed analysts’ expectations of $80.9 million. Shares of the restaurant and entertainment business operator fell 1.8% in the extended trading session on Thursday.

Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) reported a net loss of $1.24 per share compared with the year-ago quarter’s earnings per share of $0.90. However, the quarterly loss was smaller than the Street consensus of $1.39. Dave & Buster’s 2Q performance reflects the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic-led restrictions on store openings, the company said.

Looking ahead, the company is optimistic about its business recovery. Dave & Buster’s CEO Brian Jenkins said, “We have made steady progress re-opening our stores while rapidly implementing numerous initiatives that are accelerating our business recovery and positioning us for long-term success.” (See PLAY stock analysis on TipRanks).

On September 7, Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Mullan upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and reiterated his price target of $28 (55.4% upside potential). Mullan believes that there is still a chance that the stock will rise by about 50% over the next 12-18 months as the company has a target to generate neutral to positive cash flows at the opened stores. The analyst noted that if the company achieves the target this week, the market will extrapolate this result for the remaining stores to be open.

Currently, the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus is based on 2 Buys and 5 Holds. With shares already down 55.1% year-to-date, the average price target of $17.71 implies further downside potential of about 1.7% to current levels.

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