Lucky Strike Entertainment Corp. engages in operating bowling centers. It offers entertainment concepts with lounge seating, arcades, food and beverage offerings, and ...
Lucky Strike Entertainment Corporation is a public consumer-cyclical company headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LUCK. The company traces its origins to 1997, when founder Thomas F. Shannon acquired the original Bowlmor Lanes in Manhattan and repositioned bowling as a more ...Lucky Strike Entertainment Corporation is a public consumer-cyclical company headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LUCK. The company traces its origins to 1997, when founder Thomas F. Shannon acquired the original Bowlmor Lanes in Manhattan and repositioned bowling as a more upscale, social, and hospitality-oriented experience. Shannon remains the company’s founder, chairman, and chief executive officer. The business was previously known as Bowlmor AMF and Bowlero Corporation before adopting the Lucky Strike Entertainment name in December 2024.
The company’s core business is the operation of bowling centers and broader location-based entertainment venues. Its offerings generally include bowling lanes, premium lounge and seating areas, arcades, redemption games, sports entertainment, private-event spaces, food and beverage service, bars, and nightlife-oriented amenities. The portfolio also includes family entertainment centers and, according to company descriptions, waterpark-related activities. Lucky Strike-branded venues are designed to combine bowling with dining, social events, parties, corporate gatherings, and immersive entertainment rather than relying solely on traditional lane rentals. The company also hosts and oversees professional and non-professional bowling tournaments and related broadcasting activities.
Lucky Strike’s revenue model is diversified across bowling games, shoe rentals, food and beverage sales, arcade and amusement activities, merchandise, event bookings, memberships, and tournament-related services. Venue-level costs typically include property occupancy, labor, utilities, maintenance, lane and arcade equipment, food and beverage inputs, insurance, marketing, and technology systems. A conventional bill of materials is not especially applicable because the company is primarily a service and hospitality operator; its operating inputs are instead venue infrastructure, bowling equipment, furniture, kitchen supplies, beverages, entertainment hardware, and digital guest-management systems.
The supplied financial snapshot indicates substantial scale, with trailing twelve-month revenue per share of approximately $9.16, an EBITDA margin near 25.7%, and an enterprise value of roughly $4.1 billion. It also shows significant leverage, negative net income, negative shareholders’ equity, a current ratio below one, and elevated interest and debt obligations. These figures highlight both the cash-generation potential of an established venue network and the financial sensitivity of the business to consumer spending, labor costs, rent, capital expenditures, interest rates, and attendance trends.
The company reports more than 360 locations and over 13,000 associates in its broader workforce disclosures. Its strategic priorities include expanding the Lucky Strike brand, improving the guest experience, increasing food, beverage, arcade, and event monetization, maintaining attractive venues, and using technology and hospitality concepts to encourage repeat visits. Key risks include discretionary consumer demand, competition for leisure spending, execution across a large physical footprint, lease commitments, debt service, seasonal fluctuations, and the ongoing capital required to renovate and maintain entertainment centers.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$1.2B
+3.7%
-11.2%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$-35.8M
-257.0%
-255.3%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+35.1%
-5.8%
+77.2%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+11.0%
-3.8%
-90.9%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
-2.9%
-244.4%
-274.9%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$-9.8M
-127.1%
-760.6%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
-0.8%
-126.1%
-843.9%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
-1239.7%
+19.4%
+12.6%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
0.50x
-13.3%
+0.3%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Lucky Strike Entertainment Q4 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Bobby Lavan, Chief Financial Officer. Bobby, please go ahead.
Robert Lavan: Good morning to everyone on the call. This is Bobby Lavan, Lucky Strike's President and Chief Financial Officer. Welcome to our conference call to discuss Lucky Strike's fourth quarter 2026 earnings. Today, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ending June 29, 2026. A copy of the press release is available in the Investor Relations section of our website. Joining me on the call today is Thomas Shannon, our Founder and Chief Executive. I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, one should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements are also subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward-looking statements, you should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filings with the SEC. Lucky Strike Entertainment undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call. Also during today's call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website. I will now turn the call over to Tom.
Thomas Shannon: Thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. Despite a weak consumer at the lower end of the K and general macro uncertainty, we finished fiscal 2026 with a same-store sales comp of minus 0.2%, a 3.5-point improvement over the prior year and our best comp performance since fiscal 2023. Total revenue grew 4% to $1.245 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $333 million, reflecting a year of deliberate investment in marketing in our water park platform and in the technology and leadership that position us for fiscal 2027. Had it not been for the World Cup and its record-breaking viewership and the conflict in the Middle East that drove consumer confidence to its lowest level in 70 years, our full year comp would almost certainly have been positive. There are green shoots across the business, and they are broadening. Ex-California, the company comped up plus 0.9% for the year. Retail bowling and shoe revenue comped …
