El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LOCO) in Costa Mesa reported first quarter revenue and adjusted profit that missed analyst consensus estimates.
Revenue increased 3% to $109 million while adjusted profit, which excludes some charges, was $5.9 million, or 15 cents a share, down from $6.7 million, or 17 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts had expected an average of $109.4 million and adjusted profit of 16 cents, according to a survey by Yahoo! Finance.
Shares in the Mexican fast food chicken chain declined 3.5% to $12.82 in after-hours trading Thursday following its report, widening to an 11% drop Friday, to a $457 million market cap.
Systemwide same-store sales, a key restaurant industry metric, increased 2.4% in the period.
Loco maintained its guidance on full-year results: 2% to 4% same-store sales growth, opening six to nine new restaurants—evenly split between company-owned and franchised sites—and adjusted EBITDA between $62 million and $65 million.
El Pollo Loco has about 480 locations in six states. It’s the fifth-largest OC-based restaurant chain with about $840 million in systemwide sales, which includes franchised restaurants.
