PNRA Panera profit matches Street, shares fall
PROVIDED BY Reuters - 4:52 PM 02/07/2012
FEB 7 - Panera Bread Co (PNRA), one of the top
performing U.S. restaurant chains, reported fourth-quarter
adjusted profit that just matched Wall Street's estimates on
soft revenue and traffic that was up only slightly from the year
earlier.
Shares of the company fell 2.4 percent to $156.20 in
extended trading.
KEY POINTS:
Q4 2011 Estimate* Q4 2010
Revenue $495.8 mln $499.03 mln $428.2 mln
Adj Net $42 mln $37 mln
income
Adj EPS $1.42 $1.42 $1.21
- Adjusted results from the latest quarter exclude a
one-time pretax charge of $5 million, related to a proposed
legal settlement of alleged violations of the California Labor
Code's rules on breaks.
- Panera expects to close its purchase of the Raleigh-Durham
franchise market for $48 million by end of the first quarter.
- Chief Financial Officer Jeff Kip will leave company on
March 15 to become CFO at IAC/InterActiveCorp.
- Fourth quarter sales at restaurants open at least 18
months were up 5.9 percent at company-owned units and up 3.2
percent at franchised units. Overall, same-restaraunt sales were
up 4.4 percent. Sales at company-operated units got a boost from
recent menu price increases.
- Traffic to company-owned units was up just 0.2 percent for
the quarter, while average spending per visit grew 5.7 percent.
- Panera forecast Q1 earnings in the range of $1.33 to $1.35
per share, above analysts' average target of $1.28 per share,
according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. That assumes a 7 percent
to 7.5 percent increase in company-owned same-restaurant sales.
- It also raised its 2012 earnings target to a range of
$5.50 to $5.55. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average,
were targeting a 2012 profit of $5.52 per share. That forecast
includes a 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent increase in company-owned
same-restaurant sales. It also includes a 2 cent to 3 cent per
share gain from the pending acquisition of the Raleigh-Durham
market.
- Panera said sales at established company-operated
restaurants in the first 41 days of the first quarter were up
about 8.9 percent. In the year-ago quarter, inclement weather
weighed on sales.
MARKET REACTION
- Shares, which are up 65 percent from a year ago and
trading at all-time highs, fell 2.4 percent to $156.20 in
extended trading.
BACKGROUND/LINKS
- Panera, Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX), and other chains that cater to higher-income diners
with specialty products ranging from gourmet coffee to organic
and artisanal products, have been outperforming the U.S.
restaurant industry as a whole.
- Panera, which opened its first location in Manhattan on
Tuesday, had 1,541 restaurants in the United States as of Dec.
27.
Note:
* Average analyst estimate according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Bernard
Orr)
