Someone was a little quick on the trigger today, sending out Texas Roadhouse's (TXRH 1.55%) third-quarter earnings release in the middle of the trading day, as opposed to after the market's closed. That caused trading in the restaurant chain's shares to be halted briefly, though they soon resumed trading.
The company reported its Q3 results, showing that it posted net sales of $334.8 million, an 8.5% gain from the $308.7 million in the same period the previous year, but that was below the $338.5 million Capital IQ consensus estimate. Net income, however, fell 5% from $17.1 million, $0.24 per share, from $18.1 million, or $0.25 per share, and was also below the CapIQ estimates, which had anticipated per-share earnings to be flat with the year-ago period.
Comparable restaurant sales increased 2.6% at company restaurants and increased 4% at franchise restaurants, positive momentum it expects will continue for the rest of 2013 and next year. It also expects to 25 or 30 new restaurants in 2014 on top of the anticipated 28 restaurants that will be opened this year. Restaurant margins, though, slipped 75 basis points to 17.2%, primarily because of higher commodity costs.
Following the announcement of the results and the resumption of trading in Texas Roadhouse's share, its stock closed the day up 1.4%, or $0.40, to $28.30.
