What Happened:

Shares of upscale bowling alley chain Bowlero (NYSE:BOWL) fell 20.4% in the morning session after the company reported first-quarter results with revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and EPS, all missing Wall Street's expectations. Gross margin also fell significantly during the quarter. The company attributed the weak topline performance to bad weather conditions, in line with the narrative highlighted by some of its peers during the earnings season. Overall, this was a weak quarter for Bowlero.

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What is the market telling us:

Bowlero's shares are not very volatile than the market average and over the last year have had only 26 moves greater than 5%. Moves this big are very rare for Bowlero and that is indicating to us that this news had a significant impact on the market's perception of the business. 

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago, when the stock gained 12.9% on the news that the company reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' revenue estimates, driven by better-than-expected bowling center revenue. Its full-year revenue guidance also came in higher than Wall Street's projections. 

On the other hand, its EPS and operating margin missed Wall Street's estimates. During the quarter, the company initiated a quarterly dividend of $0.055 per share, payable on March 8, 2024, to stockholders of record on February 23, 2024. The integration of last year's Lucky Strike acquisition is also going well, and management expects to open new locations during the year. Overall, this was a mixed quarter for Bowlero.

Bowlero is down 29.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $10.27 per share it is trading 31.5% below its 52-week high of $14.99 from February 2024.

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