Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:PLAY) is plummeting before the open, down 19% to trade at $9.98, after the restaurant and arcade operator reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results. The company earned 22 cents per share, missing analysts' expectations of 37 cents per share, while revenue of $559.2 million missed estimates of $580.5 million.
Comparable-store sales fell 5.4% year over year as well. In response, Benchmark downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy," while BMO cut its price target to $22 from $24 and UBS lowered its target to $12 from $13.
PLAY is looking to move back toward its March 27 roughly six-year low of $9.61, testing a recent floor at the $10 region. Heading into today, the equity is down 24% since the start of the year and late last week was rejected by the 100-day moving average.
Short interest fell 3.6% over the most recent reporting period and now accounts for 33.7% of the stock's available float. At PLAY's average daily trading pace, it would take nearly five days for bearish bets to be covered.
Meanwhile, PLAY sports a Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 99 out of 100, indicating the shares have consistently delivered larger moves than options traders have priced in.
