What Happened?

Shares of fast-food chain Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) jumped 18.8% in the morning session after the company reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded analysts' expectations for same-store sales, EPS, and EBITDA. Additionally, its full-year EBITDA guidance came in above estimates, highlighting strong performance. Overall, this quarter had some key positives.

Is now the time to buy Jack in the Box? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What The Market Is Telling Us

Jack in the Box’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 12 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Jack in the Box and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business. 

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 10 months ago when the stock gained 9.5% on the news that the company reported first quarter 2024 results that beat analysts' gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, and EPS expectations. 

On the other hand, its same-store sales unfortunately missed analysts' expectations, leading to a revenue miss as well. While full year guidance was broadly lowered, the company did mention that "sales have improved since its [Smashed Jack product] introduction in mid-March". Overall, this quarter's results were mixed.

Jack in the Box is down 8% since the beginning of the year, and at $37.71 per share, it is trading 49.5% below its 52-week high of $74.72 from March 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Jack in the Box’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $478.03.

Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.