Fast-food chain Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) will be reporting earnings tomorrow afternoon. Here’s what to look for.

Jack in the Box missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $349.3 million, down 6.2% year on year. It was a softer quarter for the company, with full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations and a slight miss of analysts’ same-store sales estimates.

Is Jack in the Box a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Jack in the Box’s revenue to decline 3.5% year on year to $470.6 million, improving from the 7.5% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.69 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Jack in the Box has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.

Looking at Jack in the Box’s peers in the traditional fast food segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Dutch Bros delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 34.9%, beating analysts’ expectations by 7.6%, and Wendy's reported revenues up 6.2%, topping estimates by 2.1%. Dutch Bros traded up 29% following the results while Wendy’s stock price was unchanged.

Read our full analysis of Dutch Bros’s results here and Wendy’s results here.

Valuation multiples for many growth stocks have not yet reverted to their early 2021 highs, but the market has been optimistic as of late due to a soft landing. This is an economic situation where rate hikes successfully quelled inflation but did not send the economy into a recession. Furthermore, recent rate cuts and Donald Trump's triumph in the 2024 Presidential election have been tailwinds for the market, and while some of the traditional fast food stocks have shown solid performance, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 2.7% on average over the last month. Jack in the Box is down 6.4% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $49.11 (compared to the current share price of $38.08).

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