Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Leisure
Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY
$6.75 +4.98% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $234.8M
Weak trendExpensive vs sectorHigh risk
Next earnings report: Dec 8, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $-2.56, down 852.9% year over year.
- Over the past year the stock returned -62.6%, behind the S&P 500 by 77.7 percentage points.
- The stock is 68% below its highest close of the past year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 25%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 1%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 49%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 36%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 25%
- Gross marginTop 27%
- Operating marginBottom 29%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 8%
- Interest coverBottom 17%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 7%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 10%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 40%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 35%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 7%
- 6-month returnBottom 3%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 4%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 6%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 5%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 13%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 43%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 25%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 4%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 23%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 8%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -0.8% | -1.5% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -286.1% | -852.9% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 85.6% | 46.7% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 8.9% | 2.9% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -14.8% | -0.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -1.5% | -0.8% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -852.9% | -286.1% | ↓ | Bottom 1% |
| Gross margin | 46.7% | 85.6% | ↓ | Top 27% |
| Operating margin | 2.9% | 8.9% | ↓ | Bottom 29% |
| Net margin | -4.3% | 0.5% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -0.8% | -14.8% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 1.2% | — | Bottom 25% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 2.3% | — | Top 49% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -10.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +29.1 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 10.43×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 0.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.85%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.85%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -7.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 4, 2026 (filed Sep 14, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 1 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 7
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $10.33
- Target vs current price
- +53.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 21
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 48%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 2026 | -300.0% | +4.1% | -17.3% | — | — |
| Jun 15, 2026 | -40.5% | -4.7% | -15.7% | -26.2% | -36.7% |
| Mar 31, 2026 | -392.3% | +7.9% | +21.1% | +14.1% | +12.5% |
| Dec 9, 2025 | +1.7% | +1.1% | +9.9% | -7.5% | -21.4% |
| Sep 15, 2025 | -54.5% | +2.3% | -17.0% | -28.7% | -24.8% |
| Jun 10, 2025 | -20.8% | +1.2% | +27.4% | +25.0% | -5.4% |
| Apr 7, 2025 | -60.9% | -3.9% | +1.5% | +16.8% | +100.8% |
| Dec 10, 2024 | -110.7% | +4.0% | -19.3% | -17.0% | -41.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 2026 | -$0.36 | $0.18 | -300.0% | $544.1M |
| Jun 15, 2026 | $0.22 | $0.37 | -40.5% | $559.2M |
| Mar 31, 2026 | -$1.14 | $0.39 | -392.3% | $529.6M |
| Dec 9, 2025 | -$1.14 | -$1.16 | +1.7% | $448.2M |
| Sep 15, 2025 | $0.40 | $0.88 | -54.5% | $557.4M |
| Jun 10, 2025 | $0.76 | $0.96 | -20.8% | $567.7M |
| Apr 7, 2025 | $0.25 | $0.64 | -60.9% | $534.5M |
| Dec 10, 2024 | -$0.84 | -$0.40 | -110.7% | $453.0M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 11.1× | — | — | Top 40% |
| EV / Sales | 1.83× | — | — | Bottom 35% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -6.81% | — | — | Bottom 10% |
| Earnings yield | -37.93% | — | — | Bottom 7% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 10.9× – 71.2× since Oct 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -62.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -852.9%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +552.8%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -13.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -7.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -24.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -46.2%
- RSI (14)
- 37.8
- Relative volume
- 0.62×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 76.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 87th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.41
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.29
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -68.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -90.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 2024 | Sep 30, 2026 | -90.7% | 625 days | Not yet recovered |
| Mar 26, 2021 | Dec 1, 2021 | -38.6% | 173 days | 81 days (Mar 29, 2022) |
| Mar 30, 2022 | May 24, 2022 | -38.5% | 38 days | 392 days (Dec 14, 2023) |
| Oct 22, 2020 | Nov 2, 2020 | -18.4% | 7 days | 5 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
| Nov 9, 2020 | Nov 12, 2020 | -16.6% | 3 days | 7 days (Nov 23, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $234.8M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$2.56
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.08B
- 52-week range
- $6.26 – $22.10
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.30B | $1.96B | $2.21B | $2.13B | $2.10B |
| Gross profit | $1.10B | $1.64B | $1.85B | $1.82B | $1.80B |
| Operating income | $195.3M | $277.1M | $325.0M | $239.1M | $105.1M |
| Net income | $108.7M | $137.1M | $126.9M | $58.3M | -$48.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.21 | $2.79 | $2.88 | $1.46 | -$1.40 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $453.0M | $534.5M | $567.7M | $557.4M | $448.2M | $529.6M | $559.2M | $544.1M |
| Net income | -$32.7M | $9.3M | $21.7M | $11.4M | -$42.1M | -$39.7M | $5.7M | -$12.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.84 | $0.24 | $0.62 | $0.32 | -$1.22 | -$1.14 | $0.16 | -$0.36 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $283.1M | $444.5M | $364.2M | $312.3M | $290.8M |
| Capital expenditure | -$92.2M | -$234.2M | -$330.2M | -$530.2M | -$391.4M |
| Free cash flow | $190.9M | $210.2M | $34.0M | -$217.9M | -$100.6M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$4.4M | -$33.5M | -$303.1M | -$165.7M | -$25.6M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $16.0M
- Total assets
- $4.12B
- Total liabilities
- $4.03B
- Total debt
- $3.59B
- Net debt
- $3.57B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $87.9M
As of Aug 4, 2026 (filed Sep 14, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 9, 2020 | $0.16 | Feb 10, 2020 |
| Oct 10, 2019 | $0.16 | Nov 11, 2019 |
| Jun 24, 2019 | $0.15 | Jul 10, 2019 |
| Mar 25, 2019 | $0.15 | Apr 10, 2019 |
| Dec 24, 2018 | $0.15 | Jan 10, 2019 |
| Sep 24, 2018 | $0.15 | Oct 10, 2018 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 9,831,307
- Days to cover
- 2.49
- Change vs previous report
- +13.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.