U.S. stocks looked primed to continue their Wednesday uptick with a big morning on Thursday, but excitement over the European Central Bank’s stimulus measures eventually abated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both dipped significantly before finishing with slight losses.
Heading into Friday, a few stocks look spotlight-worthy: El Pollo LoCo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LOCO), Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) and Bojangles Inc (NASDAQ:BOJA) all look set to move on their most recent quarterly results.
Here’s what to watch ahead of Friday’s action:
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (ULTA)
Ulta topped Wall Street’s estimates with its fourth-quarter results, sending ULTA stock toward a potentially big opening in Friday morning trading.
Ulta Salon posted earnings per share of $1.69, exceeding the Wall Street analysts consensus of $1.54 EPS. The beauty products seller also surpassed a $1.23 billion revenue estimate with $1.27 billion for the quarter.
The numbers looked great across the board. Comparable-store sales were up around 9%, while e-commerce sales grew a whopping 44.2% year-over-year to $94.8 million.
Capping off the good day was current-quarter guidance of $1.25 to $1.30 EPS, which has the Wall Street expectation of $1.22 beat.
ULTA shares were up more than 11% in Friday’s premarket trading.
El Pollo LoCo Holdings Inc (LOCO)
El Pollo Loco shares didn’t look as good following the company’s lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues.
LOCO beat on the earnings front, with 15 cents per share in Q4 profits topping analysts’ forecasts for 13 cents. However, sales of $86.3 million missed analysts’ consensus mark of $88.03 million.
Comps also came in fairly lackluster, at just 1.8% growth.
“While the full impact of our 2015 sales driving and operations enhancing initiatives will take time, we believe they are beginning to gain traction,” CEO Steve Sather said in a statement.
LOCO was set to open Friday trading down nearly 6%.
Bojangles Inc (BOJA)
Lastly, Bojangles was up 10% in premarket trading after posting its fourth-quarter results on Thursday afternoon.
BOJA earned 22 cents per share in Q4, and while that was off year-over-year, it exceeded the consensus estimate of 19 cents. That came on revenues of $128.78 million, beating Wall Street expectations $126.7 million.
The company also posted updated guidance for the 2016 fiscal year, expecting revenue of $533 million to $543 million — in line with the consensus estimate of $540.2 million.
If BOJA’s premarket movement is any indication, shares should return to the black for the year-to-date.
