Maybe Burger King (NYSE: BKC ) won't be such a bad public company after all. The world's second-largest burger chain came through with better-than-expected results as it kicked off fiscal 2007.
Earnings clocked in at $0.30 a share on a 7.5% uptick in revenue. The showing blew past Wall Street Whopper watchers, who had been expecting the company to earn just $0.26 a share on a more meager 6% top-line advance.
The good news doesn't stop there. Global comps have risen for 11 consecutive quarters. The company has been paying down debt. Later this month, it's got an interesting brand-enriching promotion with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) that will find the fast-food chain selling value-priced Xbox games starring the chain's jovial mascot.
And here I thought the goofy smile on The King was just a mask. Turns out he's got plenty to be happy about lately.
It doesn't make sense at first glance. Rivals like Wendy's (NYSE: WEN ) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) keep emphasizing their healthier menu options as BK is busy pitching enormous omelet sandwiches and quadruple-stacked burgers. However, that offbeat tack -- complete with a marketing gimmick that's so disturbingly hokey, it actually works -- may have helped breathe new life into a company that seemed all but dead three years ago. Now it's piling on the comps as if they were part of its BK Stacker line of towering bacon cheeseburgers.
This doesn't mean The King won't be dethroned again. I think Wendy's entrance into the breakfast market next year could be a real disruptor. On Sunday, I went to my local McDonald's, which was recently dolled up with LCD television screens, artsy booths, and recessed lighting, and wondered whether the Burger King just down the street will have the ammo to fight back.
As we know, in quick-service, the game is never really over. However, for one quarter at least, Burger King has proven that it can deliver the goods after going public in a year that most will remember for the sizzling debut of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG ) .
You go, King. Keep it royal.
Further flame-grilled Foolishness:
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves to root for BK -- it's a local company out of Miami -- but he's a Wendy's guy at heart. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the
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