Digital and more customers in restaurants helped drive results in the second quarter for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG).
Comparable sales in the quarter jumped 31.2% on the strong restaurant performance.
“We remain confident in our key growth strategies and believe they will help us achieve our next goal of $3 million average unit volumes with industry-leading returns on invested capital that improve as we continue to add Chipotlanes,” Chair and CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement.
Chipotle opened 56 restaurants during the quarter, with 45 of those locations bearing the company’s version of the drive-thru it calls Chipotlane. The company expects to open about 200 restaurants total this year.
The company saw revenue in the quarter increase 38.7% from a year ago to $1.9 billion, about in line with analyst estimates.
Digital continues to grow with sales up 10.5% from a year earlier to $916.5 million.
Second-quarter net income totaled $188 million, compared to $8.2 million a year earlier and the $158.9 million projected by analysts.
Shares of Chipotle were up 4.4% to $1,646.37 in after-hours trading Tuesday following the earnings report. The company, with more than 2,850 restaurants and over 100,000 workers, had a recent market cap of $44.3 billion.
