Buffalo Wild Wings Posts Downbeat Results

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. posted weaker-than-expected results in its latest quarter as same-store sales were soft during the holiday season.

Same-store sales in the December quarter climbed 1.9% at company-owned restaurants and 0.1% at franchised locations, missing the company's expectations.

"We estimate the holiday shifts for Halloween and Christmas negatively impacted fourth-quarter same-store sales by 30 basis points," said Sally Smith, CEO of the company.

Shares fell 2.07% to $140.66

The chain has stumbled out of the gate in the current 2016 fiscal year. The company previously reported health officials were investigating gastrointestinal illnesses that affected customers last week, closing one of it restaurants in Overland Park, Kan.

BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said "investors and consumers are very sensitive to food borne illnesses in the wake of Chipotle." Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. reported its first quarterly revenue decline as a public company last night after two E.coli outbreaks and a recent norovirus outbreak in Boston.

On Wednesday, Buffalo Wild Wings said same-store sales increased a modest 0.3% at company-owned restaurants while falling 1.5% at franchised locations for the first four weeks of the current quarter.

The company said it would stop disclosing quarter-to-date same-store sales trends because the trend was "not predictive of quarterly same-store sales."

For 2016, Buffalo Wild Wings said it expected earnings on a per-share basis of $5.95 to $6.20, which is below the average analyst estimate of $6.48 on Thomson Reuters but above its 2015 profit of $4.97.

For the latest quarter, net income rose to $25.3 million, or $1.32 a share, from $20.3 million, or $1.07 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue increased 20% to $490.2 million.

Analysts told Thomson Reuters that they expected earnings of $1.48 a share on revenue of $507 million.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2016 17:35 ET (22:35 GMT)

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