Cracker Barrel Ends Year on Strong Note

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. posted mostly better-than-expected results for the last quarter of its fiscal year, but the casual dining and retail chain operator gave downbeat guidance for the current quarter and year.

The Lebanon, Tenn., company's shares, up 19% this year, fell 2% to $147.50 in recent premarket trading.

Cracker Barrel has continued to report stronger earnings in recent quarters as it has benefited from cost-cutting efforts, higher menu prices at its restaurants and sales growth at its so-called "country" retail stores, even though customer traffic has weakened.

Most restaurant operators have been feeling some pressure as consumers are eating out less—ranging from fast-food vendors like McDonald's Corp. to casual-dining companies such as Darden Restaurants Inc.

For the fiscal year ending in July 2017, the company forecast per-share earnings of $7.95 to $8.10 and revenue of $2.95 billion to $3 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $8.32 and revenue of $3.01 billion.

For the current quarter, Cracker Barrel predicted per-share earnings of $1.75 to $1.85, while analysts expected per-share profit of $1.94.

For the period ended July 29, Cracker Barrel said same-restaurant sales grew 3.2%, as a 1.2% decline in customer traffic was offset by a 4.4% growth in the average customer check. Average menu prices rose 2.4%.

Comparable retail sales improved 3.5%.

Over all, Cracker Barrel reported a profit of $51 million, or $2.12 a share, up from $47.4 million, or $1.97 a share, a year earlier. The company expected per-share profit of $2.05 to $2.15.

Revenue increased 3.7% to $745.6 million, above analysts' expectations for revenue of $741 million.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

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