What Happened?

Shares of arcade company Dave & Buster’s (NASDAQ: PLAY) fell 4.7% in the afternoon session after the company announced the appointment of former Yum Brands executive Tarun Lal as its new Chief Executive Officer. The entertainment and dining venue operator named Lal, who most recently served as President of KFC U.S., as its new CEO and a board member, effective July 14. The move follows the resignation of former CEO Chris Morris in December 2024. While the company's board expressed confidence that Lal's successful track record of growing brands would have an immediate impact, the initial market reaction was muted. The stock's dip suggests investors may be taking a wait-and-see approach as the new leader takes the helm during what has been a challenging period for the company.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Dave & Buster's? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Dave & Buster’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 42 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

Dave & Buster's is up 0.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $30.49 per share, it is still trading 27.4% below its 52-week high of $42.02 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Dave & Buster’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,222.

Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.