BJRI - BJ's Restaurants up on better-than-expected profits costs savings

2023-07-28 11:56:50 ET

BJ's Restaurants ( NASDAQ: BJRI ) jumped 9% on Friday after profit blasted past expectations and the company announced additional cost savings.

Q2 GAAP EPS of $0.50 beat the average analyst estimate by $0.15, while revenue of $349.67M missed the estimate by $0.38M. Comparable restaurant sales increased 4.7% for the quarter.

"Consumer demand trends were generally stable and consistent throughout the second quarter and these same trends have continued into the first 3 weeks of the third quarter," Chief Executive Officer Greg Levin said in an earnings call.

"Our margin improvement initiatives are also delivering results as we made meaningful progress on this front, with restaurant-level margins reaching 14.5%, which was 260 basis points higher than last year and our highest margin level since the pandemic."

While some restaurant chains have been struggling with labor costs, BJRI said it has seen strong worker retention and labor productivity metrics in the second quarter were better than a year ago and better than 2019.

Costs savings to come

BJ's Restaurants ( BJRI ) said it is on schedule to open five new restaurants this year and is accelerating a plan to remodel locations after encouraging results and financial returns from renovated stores.

"We now expect to remodel 35 to 40 restaurants this year, of which more than 20 remodels have been completed," Levin said.

"We are excited about the opportunities to further strengthen the BJ’s concept in the near-term and remain confident in the long-term potential to grow to at least 425 restaurants, while delivering an attractive margin profile and creating significant shareholder value."

The Huntington Beach-based chain said it surpassed its goal to cut $25M in costs during the second quarter.

"While we are proud to have achieved this milestone, the team has identified significant additional savings opportunities, which we expect to realize later this year as we continue to execute against our cost savings initiative," Levin said.

Shares of BJRI have four Strong Buys, one Buy, five Holds, one Sell and one Strong Sell.

Shares of BJRI are up 53% over the past 12 months.

More on restaurant stocks:

• Texas Roadhouse falls as increasing wage costs bite
• BJ's Restaurants Looks Attractive At Current Levels
• BJ's Restaurants GAAP EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.15, revenue of $349.67M misses by $0.38M
• Large-cap restaurant stocks may be more appetizing than they appear

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