CEC Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:CEC)

kristm (99.75) Submitted: 8/6/2008 12:35:45 AM : Start Price: $36.00 CEC Score: +5.02

I never have liked this company, it encourages kids to beg their parents for quarters and eat unhealthy crap - plus the characters and games are pretty lame. But beyond that..--CEC is better known for its games than its food, but most companies in the arcade/gaming business are going away because families prefer to play games over and over for free on their home game console or computer. If they had room for something more active like, say, a go-cart track - but they don't.--The food sucks, CiCi's pizza buffet has better cardboard pizza than these people do and it costs a lot less. They might be better than Little Caesars, but if so not much.--Food prices are rising all over, every restaurant chain is getting squeezed hard by increasing food costs and this one won't fully escape that either.--The economy is tight, gas prices are high - luxuries like playing games during dinner with the kids aren't going to be as affordable as they were.My only counter thought to this is the whole "staycation" argument - people will go to CEC instead of Disney or Six Flags for vacation this year. That's pretty lame, but it might happen. However, those people who normally go to CEC instead of Disney or Six Flags during good times will be staying home during bad times, so that won't really help things very much.