Arcos Dorados (NASDAQ:ARCO) is lagging behind in InvestorPlace‘s Top Stocks for 2012 contest, but you wouldn’t know it after its second quarter earnings report.
Shares of ARCO saw a double-digits increase — up nearly 13% — this morning as investors jumped on news of strong same-store sales growth in Q2.
Net income decreased, though, falling to around $12 million from last year’s $14 million, while adjusted EBITDA dropped by just under a percent, coming in at $67 million. A strong U.S. dollar made for an unfavorable currency exchange for the Latin American company, as it did last quarter.
Revenue was hit by the same problem, but the 10% increase in same-store sales helped revenue still increase just under 2% year-over-year. Plus, the increase in same-store sales comes on the heels of 14% growth in the second quarter of last year.
On top of that, the company opened 91 new restaurants in the last 12 months, which added more than $40 million in revenue.
Still, Arcos Dorados has a long way to go to just break even for 2012. The McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) brand may be strong — one of Josh Brown’s reason for picking the stock to begin with — but it hasn’t been strong enough to offset the many economic issues in ARCO’s region.
The stock is in the red over 25% since January and sits at second-to-last in the contest.
As of writing this, Alyssa Oursler did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
