Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.’s Higher Menu Prices Drive Q1 Revenue Up

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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) crushed Wall Street’s outlook for its latest quarter, sending shares soaring late today.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.The fast-casual restaurant chain saw its net income increase to $59.4 million, or $2.13 during its first quarter, from its year-ago total of $46.1 million, or $1.60 per share. Analysts were calling for adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Chipotle’s strong quarter can be attributed to the company lifting menu prices last April in order to increase ticket averages. The final wave of these price increases came in January, bringing prices up by 5% to 7% in markets that had not seen an increase in 2017.

The chain said it experienced a 4.9% benefit from these menu hikes during the period, although this figure was partially offset by a lower number of transactions in its restaurants. However, this move still helped total revenue climb 7.4% compared to the year-ago quarter to $1.15 billion, which met the Wall Street consensus estimate, per Thomson Reuters.

Same-store sales were also strong for Chipotle in the quarter, as they were 2.2% higher, topping the 1.3% increase that analysts’ were calling for, according to StreetAccount. This earnings report will be the first time CEO Brian Niccol will address Chipotle investors since leaving Taco Bell to take over at the helm of Chipotle.

CMG shares skyrocketed 10.3% after the bell Wednesday.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/04/chipotle-mexican-grill-inc/.

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