On April 25, IHOP (NYSE:IHP) released first-quarter earnings for the period ended March 31.

  • Net sales improved 1.8% because of an increase in the average check. The "All You Can Eat Pancakes" and "Cinn-A-Stacks" limited-time offers helped, but guest traffic still declined.
  • Earnings per share declined 7.4% because of a pre-payment penalty on the company's pre-existing debt and costs related to the write-off of deferred financing costs.
  • Management reiterated its estimated EPS to a range between $2.50 and $2.60 per diluted share for fiscal 2007 and repurchased 659,400 shares during first-quarter 2007 for $37.6 million.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data.)

Income Statement Highlights

Q1 2007

Q1 2006

Change

Sales

$90,124

$88,517

1.8%

Net Profit

$11,313

$12,594

(10.2%)

EPS

$0.63

$0.68

(7.4%)

Diluted Shares

18,046

18,650

(3.2%)

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

Q1 2007

Q1 2006

Change*

Gross Margin

41.5%

41.3%

0.2

Operating Margin

22.4%

23%

(0.6)

Net Margin

12.6%

14.2%

(1.7)

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets

Q1 2007

Q1 2006

Change

Cash + ST Invest.

$51,818

$34,919

48.4%

Accounts Rec.

$42,811

$42,816

(0%)

Inventory

$415

$696

(40.4%)

Liabilities

Q1 2007

Q1 2006

Change

Accounts Payable

$14,694

$21,498

(31.6%)

Long-Term Debt

$175,000

$113,654

54%

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights

Q1 2007

Q1 2006

Change

Cash From Ops.

$14,598

$21,502

(32.1%)

Capital Expenditures

$784

$241

225.3%

Free Cash Flow

$13,814

$21,261

(35%)

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend.

Related Foolishness:

Do you think you could pitch your favorite stock or ditch your least favorite one in fewer than 27 seconds? That's what we're doing over at Motley Fool CAPS. Check out our new stock videos.

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. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.