Dave & Buster's Entertainment (PLAY) Competitors

Dave & Buster's Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) and Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, community ranking, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Is PLAY or CAKE a better dividend stock?

Dave & Buster's Entertainment pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Cheesecake Factory pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Dave & Buster's Entertainment pays out 31.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cheesecake Factory pays out 33.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Dave & Buster's Entertainment is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PLAY or CAKE?

91.4% of Dave & Buster's Entertainment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.5% of Cheesecake Factory shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Dave & Buster's Entertainment shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Cheesecake Factory shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend PLAY or CAKE?

Dave & Buster's Entertainment currently has a consensus price target of $51.43, suggesting a potential upside of 168.70%. Cheesecake Factory has a consensus price target of $52.19, suggesting a potential upside of 1.75%. Given Dave & Buster's Entertainment's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Dave & Buster's Entertainment is more favorable than Cheesecake Factory.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dave & Buster's Entertainment	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30
Cheesecake Factory	4 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24

Does the media prefer PLAY or CAKE?

In the previous week, Cheesecake Factory had 31 more articles in the media than Dave & Buster's Entertainment. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Cheesecake Factory and 6 mentions for Dave & Buster's Entertainment. Dave & Buster's Entertainment's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Cheesecake Factory's score of 0.28 indicating that Dave & Buster's Entertainment is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Dave & Buster's Entertainment	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cheesecake Factory	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is PLAY or CAKE more profitable?

Cheesecake Factory has a net margin of 4.38% compared to Dave & Buster's Entertainment's net margin of 3.88%. Cheesecake Factory's return on equity of 45.89% beat Dave & Buster's Entertainment's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dave & Buster's Entertainment	3.88%	44.22%	3.05%
Cheesecake Factory	4.38%	45.89%	5.85%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, PLAY or CAKE?

Dave & Buster's Entertainment has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cheesecake Factory. Dave & Buster's Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cheesecake Factory, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dave & Buster's Entertainment	$2.20B	0.34	$126.90M	$2.02	9.48
Cheesecake Factory	$3.58B	0.74	$101.35M	$3.20	16.03

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PLAY or CAKE?

Cheesecake Factory received 20 more outperform votes than Dave & Buster's Entertainment when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.43% of users gave Dave & Buster's Entertainment an outperform vote while only 52.13% of users gave Cheesecake Factory an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Dave & Buster's Entertainment	Outperform Votes 530 67.43%	Underperform Votes 256 32.57%
Cheesecake Factory	Outperform Votes 550 52.13%	Underperform Votes 505 47.87%

Which has more risk & volatility, PLAY or CAKE?

Dave & Buster's Entertainment has a beta of 2.17, suggesting that its share price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cheesecake Factory has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cheesecake Factory beats Dave & Buster's Entertainment on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.