Noblecon 18 highlights. Tom Shannon, CEO, provided a compelling update on the company's recent success and planned developments. Some of the topics discussed include: the company’s compelling roll-up strategy, inflationary effects, continued COVID recovery, cost reductions, and the upcoming beta testing of new in-center features. The full video of the presentation can be found here.COVID recovery still a boost. Bowlero experienced a favorable revenue rebound as the country emerged from lockdowns, with revenue growth 177% year-over-year in the most recent quarter. Those results, however, did not reflect a full recovery. Notably, the retail and event-driven businesses are now rebounding in locations like New York. This rebound could lead toward positive upside revenue and EBITDA surprise potential in upcoming quarters. In-center gaming on the way. Mr. Shannon noted that in-center gaming, which allows players to wager on themselves when bowling (using calculated probabilities of outcomes to set payouts), will begin being tested in some centers as soon as September of this year. Notably, management believes in-center gaming could boost center revenue by as much as 20%, by increasing frequency and duration of gameplay.Inflation benefits? Although rising cost of living could negatively affect consumers’ appetite to spend on recreational activities like bowling, it’s not all bad news. Due to low cost of goods sold, the positive inflationary effects on revenue are not being matched proportionately by input costs. As a result, there are accretive effects of inflation on the business.Compelling rating: Near current levels, the BOWL shares trade at 10.5 times enterprise value to our calendar year 2022 adj. EBITDA estimate and 9.6 times EV to our calendar year 2023 adj. EBITDA estimate, below its peers. We are raising our price target from $14.50 to $16.00, to reflect a target EV/2022 EBITDA multiple in line with peers, near 13.3 times. The shares are rated Outperform. Read More >>