Wingstop's stock slides 7% as higher chicken costs lead to revenue shortfall

Dow Jones
19 Feb

MW Wingstop's stock slides 7% as higher chicken costs lead to revenue shortfall

By Ciara Linnane

Revenue hit by higher costs of food, beverages, packaging and bone-in chicken wings

Wingstop Inc.'s stock slid 7.8% early Wednesday, after the operator of chicken restaurants reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of estimates. The revenue miss - driven by higher costs of food, beverage, packaging and bone-in chicken wings - offset a profit beat.

Dallas-based Wingstop $(WING.UK)$ had net income of $26.7 million, or 92 cents a share, for the quarter - up from $18.8 million, or 64 cents a share, a year ago, ahead of the 86-cent FactSet consensus.

Revenue rose to $161.8 million from $127.1 million a year ago, but was below the $165.0 million FactSet consensus.

Same-store sales rose 10.1%. FactSet did not provide a same-store sales consensus.

Cost of sales rose to $23.3 million from $19.7 million a year ago, and accounted for 77.6% of sales, up from 75.1% a year ago. The company had benefited from lower bone-in chicken wing prices in the spot market in the year-earlier period.

Selling, general and administrative costs rose to $31.2 million from $28.1 million a year ago, mostly due to higher employment costs.

The company had 2,563 restaurants in total at quarter-end, up from 2,214 a year ago. Domestic franchise restaurants totaled 2,154 at quarter-end, up from 1,877 a year ago.

The company is now expecting fiscal 2025 same-store sales to rise in the low to mid-single digits.

The stock is down 4% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 22.5%.

-Ciara Linnane

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2025 08:37 ET (13:37 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10