Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG)

[Old_Drummerman]

CMG:US 17:52 07/22
Chipotle Declines in Late Trading as Sales Miss Estimates
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., the burrito chain spun off from McDonald’s Corp. in 2006, fell as much as 7.6 percent in late New York trading after second- quarter sales rose less than analysts expected.

Chipotle, based in Denver, fell $1.28, or 1.4 percent, to $87.50 at 5:45 p.m. after the close of New York Stock Exchange trading. Earlier it declined to $82. The stock rose 8 cents to $88.78 in composite trading today.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.7 percent, the company said in a statement today. That’s less than the 2 percent gain expected by Jeff Farmer, an analyst at Jefferies & Co., and the 3 percent increase projected by New York-based Barclays Capital analyst Jeffrey Bernstein. Average sales per restaurant, which includes stores opened in the past year, fell 2.3 percent to $1.73 million, the second quarterly decline in a row.

“New units are under performing pretty meaningfully,” said Farmer, who’s based in Boston. He rates the stock “underperform.” “They’re transitioning into smaller markets where they’re not was well known or accepted.”

Net income rose 45 percent to $35.4 million, or $1.10 a share, from $24.5 million, or 74 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 14 percent to $388.8 million. Analysts, on average, projected earnings of 89 cents and sales of $390.5 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Dentch in New York at [e-mail] .

Last Updated: July 22, 2009 17:52 EDT

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