Tuesday, Panera Bread Co. (PNRA) reported that its profit for the third quarter increased from the previous year quarter helped by higher revenues and improved margins. .
Panera Bread recorded net income of $19 million or $0.61 per share, compared to $14 million or $0.45 per share in the same quarter last year.
The company's quarterly revenues increased 6% to $335.02 million from $315.2 million in the year-ago quarter.
On an average, nineteen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.58 per share on revenues of $333.81 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
For the third quarter, company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales increased 3.3%, compared to same period in fiscal 2008.
During the third quarter of fiscal 2009, the company generated operating margin improvement of about 230 basis points compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2008. This was primarily a result of sales leverage, year-over-year benefits from purchasing efficiencies and wheat and diesel fuel cost decreases.
For the nine-month period, net income was $56 million or $1.82 per share, compared to $42 million or $1.38 per share last year.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the company is targeting earnings in range of $0.85 to $0.87 per share , net of $0.05 per share of nonrecurring charges for expected asset retirement expenses during the fourth quarter. Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales growth, when measured on a calendar basis, is targeted at 5.0% to 6.0% for the fourth quarter. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.85 for the fourth quarter.
For the fiscal year 2010, the company is setting its initial earnings per share target at $3.05 to $3.15, which would represent an increase of 14% to 18% in year-over-year earnings per share from the mid-point of the range for fiscal 2009. The company said its fiscal 2010 target assumes company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales growth of 3.0% to 5.0%.
Analysts anticipate earnings of $3.04 per share for the full year 2010.
PNRA closed Tuesday's regular trading at $55.10 down $0.51 or 0.92% on a volume of 0.697 million shares on the Nasdaq and in the after hours trading the stock price increased to $57.70 up $2.60 or 4.72%.
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