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Dave & Buster's

PLAY Nasdaq Restaurants Financials FY2016–FY2025

Dave & Buster's revenue fell 1.4% to $2.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 4.1%, down from 10.3% a year earlier. Free cash flow was −$101 million. It paid out $24 million in dividends and buybacks. The diluted share count fell 13.3%.

Last close · Oct 23, 2026

$6.96

6.7%
Revenue Total sales reported in the income statement.
$2.1B
1.4% vs prior year
Operating margin Operating income as a share of revenue.
4.1%
6.2 pts
Net income Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
−$48.7M
183.5%
Free cash flow Cash from operations minus capital spending.
−$101M
Return on capital After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
4.1%
7.4 pts
Market cap Last close times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate.
$242M
Oct 23 close
P/E Last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters.
—

About these figures. Dave & Buster's shareholders' equity fell to a small fraction of its assets in fiscal 2025, so return on equity is left blank that year.

What Dave & Buster's does

Dave & Buster's owns and runs 243 entertainment and dining venues in North America under two brands. As of February 3, 2026 it had 179 Dave & Buster's stores in 43 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, which combine a full food and drink menu, arcade games and sports viewing. It also had 64 Main Event stores in 22 states, which offer food and drinks along with bowling, laser tag, arcade games and virtual reality. Outside North America it is a franchisor, with four franchised Dave & Buster's locations open.

Game play is a core part of the business. Customers buy game cards or credits at kiosks, through the mobile app or from staff. Entertainment revenue made up about 62.9% of total revenue in fiscal 2025, with the rest from other sources. Dave & Buster's stores average about 125 games and Main Event stores about 112.

It leases space for its stores under long-term leases, and the company has substantial debt. In fiscal 2024 it moved its year-end from Sunday to Tuesday to avoid ending periods on its busier weekends.

Legal name
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc.
Fiscal year ends
February 3, 2026
Latest annual report
10-K · Mar 31, 2026
Accession · CIK
0001525769-26-000008
0001525769

Revenue and margins

Dave & Buster's had $2.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025, down 1.4% on the year before.

Revenue
Revenue
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF

Net income and earnings per share

Loss periods are shown in red.

Net income
Net income
Diluted EPS
Diluted EPS

Returns on capital

After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.

Return on capital, equity and assets (annual)
Return on capital Return on equity Return on assets

Cash flow

Free cash flow was −$101M in fiscal 2025, −4.8% of revenue. Cash from operations minus capital spending.

Free cash flow
Free cash flow
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending

Dividends, buybacks and share count

Dave & Buster's returned $23.9M to shareholders in fiscal 2025. The diluted share count fell 13.4%.

Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Diluted shares outstanding (annual)

Value Dave & Buster's yourself

Change the assumptions and see what they imply per share. These are models, not forecasts or price targets — the answer depends entirely on what you put in.

Discounted cash flow

Value per share

—

Adds net cash of −$1.6B and divides by 34.7M diluted shares. Ten years of cash flows plus a terminal value, discounted to today.

Balance sheet

Cash, debt and the ratios that show how comfortably Dave & Buster's can carry it.

Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Cash Debt
Fiscal year endFY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Cash and short-term investments $25.9M$182M$37.3M$6.9M$16.6M
Debt incl. finance leases $440M$1.3B$1.3B$1.5B$1.6B
Net debt / EBITDA 1.3x2.6x2.5x3.3x4.3x
Debt / equity 1.6x3.1x5.3x——
Interest coverage 3.5x3.0x2.4x1.6x0.6x
Current ratio 0.5x0.7x0.3x0.2x0.3x
Quick ratio 0.3x0.6x0.2x0.1x0.2x
Total assets $2.3B$3.8B$3.8B$4.0B$4.1B
Total liabilities $2.1B$3.4B$3.5B$3.9B$4.0B
Shareholders' equity $275M$411M$251M$146M$91.2M
Net debt (− = net cash) $414M$1.1B$1.3B$1.5B$1.6B

Insider trades

Open-market purchases and sales by officers, directors and 10% owners, from Form 4 filings. 'Plan' marks trades under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.

Bought, 12 months

$0.1M

3 insiders

Sold, 12 months

$0.1M

1 insider

Of sales under plans

0%

$0.0M

DateInsiderTradeSharesPriceValueFiling
Sep 28, 2026 Cory HattonInterim CFO Bought 4,000 $6.50 $0.0M Form 4
Sep 17, 2026 Nathaniel LipmanDirector Bought 12,000 $6.78 $0.1M Form 4
Apr 17, 2026 Steve KlohnSVP Chief Information Officer Sold 6,989 $14.69 $0.1M Form 4
Jan 16, 2026 Rodolfo Rodriguez JrSVP, Chief Legal Officer Bought 730 $20.10 $0.0M Form 4

Piotroski F-score

Nine pass/fail tests of profitability, funding and efficiency. 8–9 is strong, 0–2 weak.

TestFY23FY24FY25
Net income is positive ✓ ✓ ✕
Cash from operations is positive ✓ ✓ ✓
Return on assets rose ✕ ✕ ✕
Cash from operations exceeds net income ✓ ✓ ✓
Debt fell relative to assets ✓ ✕ ✓
Current ratio rose ✕ ✕ ✓
Share count didn't rise ✓ ✓ ✓
Gross margin rose ✓ ✓ ✓
Revenue rose relative to assets ✕ ✕ ✕
F-score 6 / 95 / 96 / 9
Accruals ratio −6.3%−6.5%−8.4%
Altman Z'' 0.620.390.15

Similar companies

Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don't line up exactly.

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Dave & Buster's PLAY $242M −1.4% 4.1% −4.8% 4.1% — 6
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Dutch Bros BROS $5.6B 27.9% 9.8% 3.3% 11.9% 57.6x 5 Compare →
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10 years of figures

US$ millions unless stated. Hover a ratio's name for its definition.

Download CSV
Fiscal yearFY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Income statement
Revenue $1.0B $1.1B $1.3B $1.4B $437M $1.3B $2.0B $2.2B $2.1B $2.1B
Gross profit $825M $943M $1.0B $1.1B $362M $1.1B $1.6B $1.9B $1.8B $1.8B
Operating income $151M $166M $161M $148M −$253M $187M $263M $307M $220M $86.1M
Interest expense $7.0M $8.7M $13.1M $20.9M $36.9M $53.9M $87.4M $127M $135M $154M
Pretax income $144M $156M $148M $127M −$290M $128M $174M $163M $69.9M −$67.9M
Income tax $52.7M $35.4M $30.7M $26.9M −$83.4M $19.0M $36.5M $36.2M $11.6M −$19.2M
Net income $90.8M $121M $117M $100M −$207M $109M $137M $127M $58.3M −$48.7M
Diluted EPS $2.10 $2.84 $2.93 $2.94 −$4.75 $2.21 $2.79 $2.88 $1.46 −$1.40
Diluted shares 0.04B 0.04B 0.04B 0.03B 0.04B 0.05B 0.05B 0.04B 0.04B 0.03B
Cash flow
Cash from operations $231M $265M $338M $289M −$49.2M $283M $444M $364M $312M $291M
Capital expenditure $181M $220M $216M $228M $83.0M $92.2M $234M $330M $530M $391M
Free cash flow $50.8M $44.8M $121M $60.9M −$132M $191M $210M $34.0M −$218M −$101M
Depreciation and amortization $88.3M $103M $118M $133M $139M $138M $169M $209M $238M $279M
Stock-based compensation $5.8M $8.9M $7.4M $6.9M $7.0M $12.5M $20.0M $16.0M $4.6M $19.6M
Acquisitions $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $819M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M
Share buybacks $28.8M $152M $149M $297M $0.0M $0.0M $25.0M $300M $172M $23.9M
Dividends paid $0.0M $0.0M $11.6M $15.7M $4.9M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M
Dividends and buybacks $28.8M $152M $161M $313M $4.9M $0.0M $25.0M $300M $172M $23.9M
Balance sheet
Cash and short-term investments $20.1M $18.8M $21.6M $24.7M $11.9M $25.9M $182M $37.3M $6.9M $16.6M
Total debt $265M $367M $394M $648M $610M $440M $1.3B $1.3B $1.5B $1.6B
Finance lease liabilities $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $33.3M
Current assets $75.6M $94.9M $91.1M $79.0M $119M $146M $294M $138M $94.4M $124M
Current liabilities $178M $208M $244M $291M $272M $312M $438M $436M $434M $435M
Inventory $21.9M $27.6M $27.3M $34.5M $23.8M $40.3M $45.4M $37.2M $39.8M $39.9M
Property and equipment, net $607M $727M $805M $901M $815M $779M $1.2B $1.3B $1.6B $1.7B
Total assets $1.1B $1.2B $1.3B $2.4B $2.4B $2.3B $3.8B $3.8B $4.0B $4.1B
Total liabilities $613M $775M $885M $2.2B $2.2B $2.1B $3.4B $3.5B $3.9B $4.0B
Shareholders' equity $440M $422M $388M $170M $153M $275M $411M $251M $146M $91.2M
Margins
Gross margin 82.1% 82.7% 82.6% 82.8% 82.8% 84.3% 83.6% 84.0% 85.3% 85.7%
Operating margin 15.0% 14.5% 12.7% 10.9% −57.9% 14.4% 13.4% 13.9% 10.3% 4.1%
EBITDA margin 23.8% 23.6% 22.1% 20.7% −26.1% 25.0% 22.0% 23.4% 21.5% 17.4%
Net margin 9.0% 10.6% 9.3% 7.4% −47.4% 8.3% 7.0% 5.8% 2.7% −2.3%
FCF margin 5.1% 3.9% 9.6% 4.5% −30.3% 14.7% 10.7% 1.5% −10.2% −4.8%
Returns
Return on capital 14.2% 17.6% 16.7% 15.0% −25.8% 22.1% 18.8% 15.6% 11.4% 4.1%
Return on capital employed 17.5% 17.8% 16.0% 9.5% −12.1% 9.1% 9.8% 9.2% 6.4% 2.4%
Return on equity 23.1% 28.1% 29.0% 36.0% −128.2% 50.7% 40.0% 38.4% 29.4% —
Return on assets 8.8% 10.8% 9.5% 5.5% −8.8% 4.6% 4.5% 3.4% 1.5% −1.2%
Growth
Revenue growth 15.9% 13.4% 11.0% 7.1% −67.8% 198.7% 50.6% 12.3% −3.3% −1.4%
Net income growth 52.3% 33.2% −3.1% −14.5% −306.4% — 26.1% −7.4% −54.1% −183.5%
EPS growth 51.1% 35.2% 3.2% 0.3% −261.6% — 26.2% 3.2% −49.3% −195.9%
FCF growth 110.7% −11.8% 171.0% −49.8% −317.3% — 10.1% −83.8% −740.9% —
Share count change 1.2% −1.6% −6.1% −14.7% 27.7% 13.1% −0.2% −10.4% −9.2% −13.4%
Financial health
Net debt / EBITDA 1.0x 1.3x 1.3x 2.2x — 1.3x 2.6x 2.5x 3.3x 4.3x
Debt / equity 0.6x 0.9x 1.0x 3.8x 4.0x 1.6x 3.1x 5.3x — —
Interest coverage 21.6x 19.1x 12.3x 7.1x −6.9x 3.5x 3.0x 2.4x 1.6x 0.6x
Current ratio 0.4x 0.5x 0.4x 0.3x 0.4x 0.5x 0.7x 0.3x 0.2x 0.3x
Quick ratio 0.3x 0.3x 0.3x 0.2x 0.4x 0.3x 0.6x 0.2x 0.1x 0.2x
Capital allocation
Capex / revenue 18.0% 19.3% 17.1% 16.8% 19.0% 7.1% 11.9% 15.0% 24.9% 18.6%
Stock comp / revenue 0.6% 0.8% 0.6% 0.5% 1.6% 1.0% 1.0% 0.7% 0.2% 0.9%
Payouts / FCF 56.8% 339.3% 132.4% 514.4% — 0.0% 11.9% 882.4% — —
Quality scores
Piotroski F-score 7.0 8.0 5.0 6.0 4.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 6.0
Altman Z'' 1.5 1.6 1.4 0.5 −0.8 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
Accruals ratio −13.7% −12.8% −17.8% −10.4% −6.7% −7.4% −10.1% −6.3% −6.5% −8.4%

Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0001525769). Data updated October 11, 2026. Quarterly fourth quarters are the full year minus the first nine months. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.

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