By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Dave & Buster’s (NASDAQ:PLAY) shares are up 4% on Tuesday after the company reported first quarter results that beat expectations.
PLAY reported EPS of $1.35 to top the $1.17 consensus. Revenue came in at $451.1 million, slightly ahead of $445.3 million. Comparable sales were up 10.9% versus the same period in 2019.
“While we are still experiencing pressures from wage and commodity inflation, our margins continued to improve as we have offset inflationary costs with a more efficient labor model, costs savings and efficiencies and thoughtful pricing actions,” the company said in a statement.
Truist analyst Jake Bartlett said the results showed “strong momentum.”
“We remain confident in PLAY's continued recovery and view the pullback over the last month as a buying opportunity. We continue to expect strong pent-up demand to drive SSS through '22, along with significant sales driving initiatives including its UFC and WWE partnerships, the 'Summer of Games' campaign (expected in the coming weeks), a potential sports betting partnership, and improving staffing levels,” Bartlett said in a client note.
Raymond James analysts witnessed much better-than-expected results, in addition to the positive updates from the management on quarter-to-date trends.