By Connor Hart
Cava Group logged higher profit and revenue in the fourth quarter, boosted by increased traffic and new store openings.
The Mediterranean restaurant chain on Tuesday posted a profit of $78.6 million, or 66 cents a share, compared with $2 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted per-share earnings came in at 5 cents a share, missing the 7 cents that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.
Revenue increased to $227.4 million. Analysts modeled sales of $223.3 million.
Same-store sales, which account for store openings and closings, increased 21%.
Cava said it opened 15 new stores in the recent quarter, bringing its total number of restaurants to 367. The company said it expects to open 62 to 66 new stores in 2025.
For the year, Cava said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $150 million to $157 million, as well as same-store sales growth of 6% to 8%. Analysts polled by FactSet expect adjusted Ebitda of $161.8 million and same-store sales to grow 8.7%.
Shares fell 4.1%, to $95.21, in after-hours trading.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 25, 2025 17:08 ET (22:08 GMT)
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