We recently published a list of 12 Stocks with Heavy Insider Buying in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) stands against other stocks with heavy insider buying in 2025.
Insider trading is often seen as an important indicator of management’s confidence in their company’s future. For decades, top investors and analysts have endorsed this idea, arguing that insiders purchase shares of their own companies for one primary reason – if they firmly believe the stock price will increase significantly and grow the value of their investment. This idea stems from the fact that insiders, such as high ranked executives and directors, possess confidential information and data that helps them draw insights into the company’s outlook and growth trajectory well before outside investors are able to. As a result, empirical research on the topic tends to agree that insider buying coincides with troughs in stock prices, and vice versa, insider selling coincides with peak valuations.
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The US stock market has experienced two years of explosive growth, following the 2022 bear market fueled by rising inflation and interest rates. For most of 2023, the stock market appreciation was primarily driven by a small subset of companies fueled by AI-related tailwinds, which led to rising concentration levels, all while on an equal-weighted basis, the performance was staying flat. The following year brought a broader acceleration in growth, with many other sectors catching up and driving a new all-time high into early 2025. We can now firmly say that the bear market of 2023-2024 has been broad, leading to apparently expensive valuations across the entire market. It is certainly not easy to be an investor in the US market right now, as peak valuations make most of the companies appear expensive, all while new threats and risks loom from all directions.
The new US administration has brought a major change in trajectory, something which hasn’t been seen in decades. Many of their new policies are a short-term (at least) threat to several industries and sectors, ranging from Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements and ending with Government consulting, engineering, and technology contractors. A more recent development, which arises as a result of the new Government policies, is a potential slowdown in commercial and residential construction – the freshly imposed tariffs are a major headwind for builders, as they make building materials significantly more expensive, all while the heightened scrutiny on immigration can potentially cause labor shortages in this field, which again makes building more expensive. The key takeaway is that plenty of new risks arise every day, which, coupled with still near peak valuations, makes it difficult for investors to decide which stocks to invest in.
With that being said, we believe insider buying could provide unique insights into what more informed investors (management itself) believe will happen with the stock price of their company. Sudden developments often bring overreactions from investors, which create opportunities for more informed investors to act. In this context, closely watching insider buying could provide a strong signal that the market overreacted to some negative developments. Also, we believe that the larger the amount of stock an insider is buying, the stronger the insider’s conviction in the future of the company. That’s why we decided to particularly track companies that have shown heavy insider buying in the last couple of months.
Our Methodology
We used Insider Monkey’s insider trading stock screener to find companies with at least two insiders buying shares worth at least $500,000 in the last six months. We believe that multiple insiders buying significant amounts of stock represents a higher chance that insiders have high confidence in the company. For all the companies we also include the number of hedge funds that own the stock, according to Insider Monkey’s database of Q4 2024. The stocks are ranked according to hedge funds having stakes in them.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A crowded performance hall with an audience enjoying a captivating show.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) operates a chain of entertainment venues combining dining, arcade games, and entertainment experiences. Each location features a full-service restaurant and bar, along with an extensive arcade called the “Million Dollar Midway,” offering a variety of games and interactive experiences. The company operates over 200 venues across North America under the Dave & Buster’s and Main Event brands, with plans for further expansion. PLAY focuses on providing a family-friendly entertainment destination, catering to both casual dining and fun, interactive gaming for all ages.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) announced the resignation of CEO Chris Morris, with Kevin Sheehan assuming the role of Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO. Despite leadership changes, the company remains committed to executing the strategic plan unveiled at their Investor Day in June 2023. The recent Q3 2025 financial results showed comparable store sales decreased by 7.7% on a like-for-like calendar basis, with revenue of $453 million, net loss of $33 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $68 million. The company expects fiscal 2024 adjusted EBITDA to be within a range of $505 million and $515 million. PLAY continues to make progress on several strategic initiatives, including opening 3 new stores with strong cash-on-cash returns, completing 11 new fully programmed remodels, and seeing strong year-over-year growth in special events business.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) successfully refinanced a portion of its debt, raising a new $700 million term loan, redeeming $440 million of senior notes, paying down $200 million of existing term loan principal, and upsizing their revolving credit facility by $150 million to $650 million. The company’s marketing strategy is undergoing optimization with a new agency partner, focusing on improving media mix, digital marketing analytics, and customer targeting. The loyalty database has grown to over 7 million members, with loyalty members visiting 2.5x more often and spending more during their visits. PLAY experienced heavy insider buying in the last six months, with two insiders buying at least $500,000 worth of company stock.
Overall, PLAY ranks 5th on our list of stocks with heavy insider buying in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of PLAY as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PLAY but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
