Shares of Buffalo Wild Wings (Nasdaq: BWLD) are soaring to new all-time highs today after posting quarterly results that are somewhere between mango habanero and blazin' on its sauce scale.
The fast-growing chain of family-friendly sports bars blasted through Wall Street targets like a messy poultry pounder going through marked down boneless wings on a Boneless Thursday.
Revenue climbed nearly 35% to $220.5 million, fueled by healthy restaurant-level comps and brisk expansion. There are now 817 locations through the United States and Canada, more than halfway to its goal of more than 1,500 North American eateries.
Earnings climbed 33% to $0.73 a share. Analysts were banking on a profit of $0.67 a share on $210.5 million in revenue.
B-Dubs is earning its fresh highs. Fourth-quarter comps were outstanding. Its company-owned stores -- accounting for 39% of its locations but 92% of its revenue -- soared 8.9% higher. This is the chain's largest comps spike in more than five years. Even if it's stacked on top of the slightly negative 0.3% decline in store-level comps from a year earlier -- which is one of only two quarters of negative store-level sales at the chain over the past five years -- it's still impressive.
The fourth quarter wasn't necessarily popular for folks dining out. Sure, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) turned heads with its 11.1% spike in comps, but table service casual dining chains are posting more pedestrian metrics.
Brinker's (NYSE: EAT) Chili's saw its comps during the same three months inch just 1.4% higher. Ruby Tuesday's (NYSE: RT) comps for its quarter ending in November actually fell by 4.2%. Most of the other casual dining chains will be reporting later this month, but don't hold out for anything close to Buffalo Wild Wings' performance.
And if you think Buffalo Wild Wings cleaned up nicely during the holiday quarter, just wait until what the current quarter brings. Comps are up a staggering 12.9% at company-owned stores through the first six weeks of this quarter -- and there was no sandbagging there. Store-level sales were mildly positive during last year's first quarter.
Mango habanero is for wimps. The current quarter definitely has the makings of a blazin' good time.
Two of the companies in a new report detailing three American companies set to dominate the world are eateries. B-Dubs isn't one of them, but you can find out the two that are for free. Check out the report now.
