What Foot Traffic Data Is Saying About Kroger, GameStop And Dave & Busters Ahead Of Earnings

Location data analytics startup Placer.ai provided some foot traffic insight that Kroger Co KR, GameStop Corp. GME, and Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc PLAY investors should be aware of before their respective earnings releases.

Kroger's Staying Power: Grocery chains have held up well throughout the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Placer.ai's Ethan Chernofsky wrote in a blog post. The most recent foot traffic data show weekly year-over-year visit growth of 2.5% since July 27. Encouragingly, Kroger's customers are also spending 5.3% more on a year-over-year basis in July and August.

"Should Kroger prove capable of leveraging this short-term boost, the impact could be significant and lasting," Chernofsky wrote.

Kroger is scheduled to report second-quarter results Thursday morning.

Future Of GameStop: Foot traffic trends at GameStop stores were still down 25.3% year-over-year in July, according to Chernofsky. But this marks an improvement from down 49.4% in May and down 30.5% in June.

Nevertheless, GameStop's massive footprint makes the case for more store closures. But GameStop could prove to be a "powerful offline brand to reckon with" if it is right-sized.

GameStop is scheduled to report second-quarter results after Wednesday's close.

Dave & Buster's Positive Sign: Dave & Buster's emphasis on live sports and entertainment implies it was a major impact of the pandemic. There are some early positive signs of a recovery, including an improvement in foot traffic trends from down 79.5% for the week of June 29 to down 68.2% for the week of August 17.

"Is experiential dining back? No. Could Dave & Buster's be a critical indicator of the sector's return? Yes," he wrote.

Dave & Buster's is scheduled to report second-quarter results Thursday after market close.

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