Luby's 10 Times Lucky: Fool by Numbers

On June 8, Luby's (NYSE: LUB  ) released fiscal Q3 2006 earnings for the period ended May 10.

• Same-store sales increased 4% for the quarter, the 10h consecutive quarter of increases.
• Without a one-time income tax benefit, net income was $4.4 million or $0.16 per diluted share, right on the estimates.
• Year over year, food costs increased 0.1 points, labor costs dropped 0.9 points, and other operating costs (electricity and restaurant supply, repair, and maintenance) increased 1.1 points.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Avg. Est.	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Sales	$77,954	$77,954	$75,371	3.4%
Net Profit	--	$6,901	$3,704	86.3%
EPS	$0.25	$0.25	$0.15	66.7%
Diluted Shares		27,565	26,671	3.4%

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	73.53%	73.63%	(0.10)
Operating Margin	5.49%	8.68%	(3.19)
Net Margin	8.85%	4.91%	3.94

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$6,701	$8,279	(19.1%)
Accounts Rec.	$653	$252	159.1%
Inventory	$2,371	$2,037	16.4%

Liabilities	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$17,729	$15,129	17.2%
Long-Term Debt	$0	$29,800	(100%)

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Cash From Ops.	$9,031*	$10,371	(12.9%)
Capital Expenditures	$3,469*	$1,597	117.2%
Free Cash Flow	$5,562	$8,774	(36.6%)

*From comments made during the conference call and the Q2 10-Q.

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Related Companies:

• Bob Evans Farms (Nasdaq: BOBE  )
• Boston Market, subsidiary of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  )
• CBRL Group (Nasdaq: CBRL  )
• Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI  )
• Denny's (Nasdaq: DENN  )

Related Foolishness:

• Luby's quarterly forecast.
• Buffalo Wild Wings' quarterly results.
• Denny's is cooking dinner.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean.

At the time of publication, Jim Mueller had no position in any company mentioned. Fool rules are here.