Dave & Buster's vs Shake Shack
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Dave & Buster's is the larger business, with $2.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.4B for Shake Shack.
- Shake Shack grew revenue faster (15.4%, against −1.4%).
- Shake Shack turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.9% FCF margin, against −4.8%).
- Shake Shack earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.6%, against 4.1%).
| Latest fiscal year | PLAY · FY25 | SHAK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $242M | $2.7B |
| Revenue | $2.1B | $1.4B |
| Free cash flow | −$101M | $56.5M |
| Net income | −$48.7M | $45.7M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −1.4% | 15.4% |
| 5-year growth | 37.0% | 22.6% |
| Share count change | −13.4% | −5.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 85.7% | — |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 4.3% |
| Net margin | −2.3% | 3.2% |
| FCF margin | −4.8% | 3.9% |
| Return on capital | 4.1% | 9.6% |
| Return on equity | — | 9.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.6B | −$96.7M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.3x | −0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $23.9M | $0.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 68.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
PLAY $1.0B
SHAK $269M
FY17
PLAY $1.1B
SHAK $359M
FY18
PLAY $1.3B
SHAK $459M
FY19
PLAY $1.4B
SHAK $595M
FY20
PLAY $437M
SHAK $523M
FY21
PLAY $1.3B
SHAK $740M
FY22
PLAY $2.0B
SHAK $901M
FY23
PLAY $2.2B
SHAK $1.1B
FY24
PLAY $2.1B
SHAK $1.3B
FY25
PLAY $2.1B
SHAK $1.4B
PLAY
SHAK
Operating margin
FY16
PLAY 15.0%
SHAK 10.4%
FY17
PLAY 14.5%
SHAK 9.4%
FY18
PLAY 12.7%
SHAK 6.9%
FY19
PLAY 10.9%
SHAK 4.3%
FY20
PLAY −57.9%
SHAK −8.4%
FY21
PLAY 14.4%
SHAK −2.1%
FY22
PLAY 13.4%
SHAK −3.0%
FY23
PLAY 13.9%
SHAK 0.5%
FY24
PLAY 10.3%
SHAK 0.2%
FY25
PLAY 4.1%
SHAK 4.3%
PLAY
SHAK
Free cash flow
FY16
PLAY $50.8M
SHAK −$0.2M
FY17
PLAY $44.8M
SHAK $9.4M
FY18
PLAY $121M
SHAK −$2.1M
FY19
PLAY $60.9M
SHAK −$16.7M
FY20
PLAY −$132M
SHAK −$31.7M
FY21
PLAY $191M
SHAK −$43.1M
FY22
PLAY $210M
SHAK −$65.8M
FY23
PLAY $34.0M
SHAK −$14.0M
FY24
PLAY −$218M
SHAK $35.7M
FY25
PLAY −$101M
SHAK $56.5M
PLAY
SHAK
Return on capital
FY16
PLAY 14.2%
SHAK 20.2%
FY17
PLAY 17.6%
SHAK 12.6%
FY18
PLAY 16.7%
SHAK 13.8%
FY19
PLAY 15.0%
SHAK 10.2%
FY20
PLAY −25.8%
SHAK −13.3%
FY21
PLAY 22.1%
SHAK −4.3%
FY22
PLAY 18.8%
SHAK −6.1%
FY23
PLAY 15.6%
SHAK 1.5%
FY24
PLAY 11.4%
SHAK 0.5%
FY25
PLAY 4.1%
SHAK 9.6%
PLAY
SHAK
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.