0842 ET - Dave & Buster's Entertainment's defense of its current strategy despite worse-than-expected 2Q results may cause credibility issues, according to Benchmark's Mike Hickey and Todd Brooks. The analysts say management pinned the performance on poor execution rather than fundamental strategy, but lowered the long-term adjusted EBITDA target to $675 million from its original goal of $1 billion. "Calling the plan 'sound' while simultaneously lowering profitability ambitions by nearly one-third creates a credibility gap," the analysts say. "This is compounded by management's assertion that the stock is mispriced, even as same store sales remain negative for a tenth consecutive quarter and early Q3 trends show no signs of improvement." Dave & Buster's slides 17% premarket. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2025 08:42 ET (12:42 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.