The Dividend Daily

After the bell on Thursday, CEC Entertainment, Inc. (CEC), which operates family dining and entertainment venues under the name Chuck E Cheese, reported that it posted a loss and a dip in revenue in the fourth quarter, missing Wall Street estimates.

The Irving, Texas-based company said that in the fourth quarter it saw a loss of $0.6 million, or 3 cents per share, versus a profit of $2.7 million, or 15 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. The loss was attributed to $2.0 million in asset impairment charges. According to analysts, the company was expected to earn 9 cents per share in the quarter.

CEC revenue for the fourth quarter was down 0.4% to $177.8 million from $178.6 million in the year earlier quarter. The decrease was negatively impacted by a 2.2% decrease in comparable store sales. Analysts were expecting the company to see revenue of $180.07 million.

CEC CEO Michael Magusiak said, “I believe that we have developed a very solid sales and earnings plan for 2013. We started the year off with positive comparable store sales in January but had a substantial reversal during the first three weeks of February. We evaluated all of our strategies that could impact sales and determined that we made no significant operating, pricing or marketing shifts since the beginning of the year that could explain the sales decline in February. Therefore, we believe the factors negatively impacting sales are primarily external in nature.”

CEC Entertainment shares were inactive during pre-market trading on Friday. The stock is down about -15% over the past year.

The Bottom Line
Shares of CEC Entertainment (CEC) have a dividend yield of 2.96% based on last night’s closing price of $32.47 and the company’s annualized dividend payout of 96 cents per share.

CEC Entertainment, Inc. (CEC) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars.

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