Dave & Buster's swings to a quarterly loss as store sales fall

What happened

Dave & Buster's Entertainment reported results on 14 September for its second quarter of fiscal 2026, the three months that ended 4 August. Revenue was $544.1 million, down 2.4 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The company posted a net loss of $12.5 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with net income of $11.4 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier. The company also filed its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ^{[1, 2]}

Cash and store activity

The company said adjusted free cash flow, the cash left after running and investing in the business on its own definition, was positive $19.5 million for the first six months of the year, against negative $36.5 million in the same period a year earlier. Six new domestic stores opened during the quarter. The company said it expects to finish two more Dave & Buster's remodels in the rest of fiscal 2026, for eight in the year, and expects at least one more international franchise store to open. Those are the company's own expectations. ^[1]

How the numbers compared

The Associated Press reported that the results came in below Wall Street expectations, with the average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research at earnings of 19 cents a share, against an adjusted loss of 27 cents, and four analysts looking for revenue of $561.3 million. ^[3]