On Wednesday, Wendy's reported higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings, on the back of strong same-store sales growth.
The fast-food restaurant chain’s adjusted earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $109.9 million, or 19 cents a share on an adjusted basis. In the year-ago quarter, the figure was $107.2 million, or 17 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting earnings of 15 cents a share.
Sales of $437.9 million for the quarter exceeded analysts’ expectation of $434.4 million. It is also higher from the year-ago quarter’s $400.6 million.
Same-store sales in North America rose +4.4%. The systemwide same-store sales grew +5.5%.
For the full year, Wendy's now expects adjusted earnings growth in the range between negative -1.5% and positive 1.5% (from its prior guidance of between a drop of -3.5% and -6.5%).
The company projects full-year total sales of between $12 billion and $12.5 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $425 million to $435 million.