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what it is
Lucky Strike runs bowling-and-arcade venues, sells food and drinks, and makes money when your group chat actually leaves the house.
how it gets paid
Last year Lucky Strike Ent made $1.2B in revenue. open play bowling was the main engine at $0.40B, or 33% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 4.0% last year. The latest company-reported quarter showed revenue up 2.3% vs. prior year to $306.9 million.
what just happened
Quarterly revenue reached $306.9 million, but Lucky Strike still posted a loss, which tells you traffic is not the same thing as shareholder comfort.
At a glance
C++ balance sheet — some cracks in the foundation
3.1% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
3.9% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$0.13 fy2025 eps est
$1B fy2025 rev est
xvary composite: 33/100 — weak
What they do
Lucky Strike runs bowling-and-arcade venues, sells food and drinks, and makes money when your group chat actually leaves the house.
This business wins on physical scale. It serves more than 30 million customers a year across North America, and you cannot stream a birthday party or office outing from your couch. Group events and league nights create repeat traffic → people come back on a schedule → so what: revenue is less random than a one-off night out. The catch is simple: scale helps, but $3.1 billion of debt, or 74% of capital, means the moat is real and the balance sheet is still the bowling ball on your foot.
How they make money
$1.2B
annual revenue · their business grew +4.0% last year
open play bowling
$0.40B
+4.0%
group events
$0.26B
+12.0%
league bowling
$0.18B
flat
food and beverage
$0.22B
+6.0%
arcade and amusements
$0.10B
+8.0%
tournaments and broadcasting
$0.04B
+2.0%
The products that matter
bowling and venue operations
Lucky Strike Venues
~$1.1B shown · 92% of revenue mix
this is the center of gravity. the venue base drives roughly 92% of the revenue shown here, and management wants 200 locations by the end of 2026.
scale bet
group bookings and event sales
Corporate & Group Events
Q2 demand clue · 0.3% same-store sales
management is leaning on events to lift traffic, but same-store sales rose just 0.3% in Q2. that's stabilization, not a breakout.
demand test
in-venue food and beverage
Food & Beverage
~$96M · flat growth
this is a ~$96M revenue stream and it was flat. helpful for guest spend, but too small to offset weak traffic by itself.
supporting revenue
Key numbers
$3.1B
long-term debt
This is the number hanging over everything. The company is worth about $1 billion in the market and owes about three times that long term.
11.4%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the venues, before interest and taxes → so what: the business itself is decent, but debt can still eat the equity.
$1.2B
annual revenue
This is a real scale business. You are not betting on a concept with 12 locations and a mood board.
30M+
annual customers
Thirty million visits a year means the brand has physical reach, which matters more here than app downloads ever will.
Financial health
C++
strength
- balance sheet grade C++ — below average — limited financial resources
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 25 / 100
- long-term debt $3.1B (74% of capital)
C++ — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for LUCK right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Quarterly revenue reached $306.9 million, but Lucky Strike still posted a loss, which tells you traffic is not the same thing as shareholder comfort.
The latest company-reported quarter showed revenue up 2.3% vs. prior year to $306.9 million, while EPS came in at -$0.11. Gross margin was 41.2%, so the issue is less selling a bowling night and more what sits below that line, including debt and overhead.
$306.9M
revenue
$0.11
eps
41.2%
gross margin
the number that mattered
Gross margin was 41.2%. Gross margin → sales left after direct costs → so what: the venue model can work, but too much of that gross profit is not reaching the bottom line.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is $3.1B of long-term debt against a business that just posted 0.3% same-store sales growth.
high
debt load
Lucky Strike carries $3.1B in long-term debt, equal to 74% of total capital.
That leaves little room for an operating miss. A business growing 2.3% with 0.3% same-store sales does not get many bad quarters for free.
med
weak demand at existing venues
Q2 same-store sales rose just 0.3%.
If your existing locations barely grow, expansion has to do the heavy lifting. That is a harder job when the balance sheet is already stretched.
med
losses plus dividend tension
The company lost $94.3M over the last 12 months and still pays a 3.1% dividend.
That supports the stock for now, but it also raises the obvious question: should that cash be going toward debt reduction instead.
low
consumer spending slowdown
Bowling, events, food, and drinks are wants more than needs.
If consumer spending softens, the revenue line can stall fast. With this much debt, small demand changes matter more than they should.
A company expected to generate about $1B in revenue is carrying $3.1B of long-term debt. That pressure runs through everything you care about — earnings, flexibility, and how much patience the market will give slow comps.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
key metric
same-store sales above 0.3%
This is the cleanest proof point. If comps stay around 0.3%, existing venues are treading water. If they move higher, the debt story gets a little less punishing.
calendar
next earnings report
You want to see whether quarterly EPS improves from -$0.11 and whether same-store sales finally move beyond flat-with-a-pulse territory.
expansion trend
road to 200 locations
Management wants 200 locations by the end of 2026. More units help only if returns on those openings beat the cost of carrying all that debt.
risk / sentiment
$11.40 analyst target vs. $8.68 stock price
That implies about 31% upside on paper. The market's answer has been simple: show stronger comps and earnings first.
Analyst rankings
coverage snapshot
thin
Analyst data on this page is limited. in human-speak, you should treat the target as a clue, not a verdict.
consensus target
$11.40
Against a current price of $8.68, that points to roughly 31% upside. The spread is real. The operating proof is not there yet.
quality signal
42.1
The composite score ranks #3721 out of 10,000 stocks. That is not where you usually find easy, low-drama compounding.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for LUCK is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$9
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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