What a difference a year makes. Heading into Papa John's (NASDAQ: PZZA) third-quarter earnings report a year ago, analysts were forecasting a dismal quarter with sales falling 9% and profits plummeting by nearly two-thirds. The company ended up doing even worse, missing on both the top and bottom lines.
Fast-forward 12 months, and Wall Street has a decidedly different outlook. Sales are expected to rise 6.5% to $388 million, and earnings are expected to soar 15% to $0.23 per share. The pizzeria's stock is up around 20% from last year but is more than 50% higher from where it ended up tumbling to at the lowest.
However, all that last year's dismal performance means is Papa John's has a much lower bar to step over. Let's see whether investors should expect the restaurant stock to go beyond the bare minimum to show gains.