Dave & Buster's Stock Plunges 12% After Q2 Miss

Dave & Buster's Entertainment saw its stock plunge more than 12% on Tuesday after reporting second-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings. The arcade and dining chain swung to a quarterly loss as it continues to struggle with declining entertainment sales and efforts to rebuild its relevance with customers. The company reported revenue of $544.1 million for the quarter ended August 4, down 2.4% from a year earlier and below the analyst consensus of $556.8 million. Dave & Buster's posted a net loss of $12.5 million, or $0.36 per share, compared with a profit of $11.4 million, or $0.32 per share, in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, the company reported a loss of $0.27 per share, significantly underperforming Wall Street's expectation for earnings of $0.18 per share. The primary weakness was in the entertainment segment, where revenue declined nearly 9% to $332.6 million. This marks approximately eight consecutive quarters of year-over-year contractions in the company's entertainment operations. Food and beverage sales provided an offsetting benefit, with comparable sales growth of 7.6% for the fifth consecutive quarter.