BJ’s Restaurants Inc. (Nasdaq: BJRI) today reported third-quarter results that beat analysts’ consensus estimates for revenue and earnings per share.
Following the company’s third quarter results, shares for BJ’s were up 5.8% to $28.44 apiece and a $667 million market cap in trading today.
Revenue for the Huntington Beach casual dining chain grew 10% to $311 million, while EPS was a loss of 7 cents per share, up from 9 cents a year ago. The results surpassed analysts’ consensus estimates of $304 million in revenue and an EPS loss of 28 cents.
The third quarter is typically BJ’s seasonal low point due to customers returning to back-to-school routines and fewer reasons to celebrate, company officials told the Business Journal in an interview in August. BJ’s, however, saw comparable restaurant sales rise 8.9% this quarter from the year prior.
“Our solid third quarter sales highlight the progress of our sales building initiatives and our guests’ strong affinity for the BJ’s brand,” BJ’s CEO Greg Levin said in a statement. “Restaurant level operating margins remained impacted by inflationary pressures but benefited from labor management efficiencies and early successes of our margin improvement initiative in the third quarter.”
