Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) released preliminary first-quarter 2020 sales results on Tuesday, and the news has WING stock soaring.
Many restaurants around the country are having to settle for only take-out and delivery orders due to the novel coronavirus. However, despite this change, Wingstop appears to be thriving in this unprecedented situation. During Q1, domestic same-store sales increased by 9.9% and company-owned restaurant same store sales rose by 6.2%.
Overall, system-wide sales increased 18.6% to $429.9 million for the period — along with a 47% increase in digital sales.
“Our business was well-positioned for the transition to 100% off-premise dining that has resulted from COVID-19,” Charlie Morrison, chairman and CEO of Wingstop, said in a letter Tuesday. “Carry-out and delivery represented approximately 80% of our sales mix before COVID-19, and our digital sales mix was just over 40% leading into COVID-19.”
The company currently boasts a free delivery promotion that has been extended until April 30. And while dine-in numbers are obviously down, Morrison said that people have taken advantage of this option:
“[W]hile we have seen a slight decline in overall transactions due to the loss of dine in, growth in our average ticket has surpassed these transaction declines as we’re primarily serving meals for families. In fact, the first three weeks of period 3 (February 23, 2020 to March 14, 2020), domestic same-store sales growth was 8.5%, and since then (post COVID-19 escalation) we saw an acceleration in same-store sales growth. During the last two weeks of period 3 (March 15, 2020 to March 28, 2020), domestic same-store sales growth was 8.9%.”
WING stock was up 11.61% as of Tuesday afternoon.
Nick Clarkson is a web editor at InvestorPlace. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
