Wingstop (WING) Misses Q4 EPS by 2c, Slight Beat on Revenues

Wingstop (NASDAQ: WING) reported Q4 EPS of $0.15, $0.02 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.17. Revenue for the quarter came in at $40.5 million versus the consensus estimate of $40.39 million.

• System-wide sales increased 15.0% to $328 million
• System-wide restaurant count increased 10.5% to 1,252 global locations
• System-wide domestic same store sales increased 6.0%
• Digital sales increased to 27.6% of domestic system-wide sales
• Total revenue increased 15.1% to $40.5 million
• Net income was $2.4 million for the thirteen weeks ended December 29, 2018 compared to $8.1 million in the prior fiscal fourth quarter. Adjusted net income** and adjusted diluted earnings per share**, both non-GAAP measures, were comparable to the prior year
• Adjusted EBITDA**, a non-GAAP measure, increased 20.3% to $12.5 million

“Driven by our vision to become a top 10 global restaurant brand and our mission to serve the world flavor, we are pleased to report another year of strong growth across all key metrics. Additionally, 2018 marked another year where we continued to demonstrate our dedication to returning capital to shareholders by returning over $192 million in dividends,” stated Charlie Morrison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain focused on our strategic long-term growth drivers of national advertising, digital innovation, delivery and unit expansion, and we believe we are executing against a strategy that will continue to deliver strong same store sales growth, best-in-class unit economics and strong shareholder returns in 2019 and the years to come.”

Financial Outlook

The Company is reiterating its long-term targets of:

• 10%+ system-wide unit growth
• Low single digit domestic same store sales growth

Additionally, the Company is providing an update on certain items specific to the fiscal year ending December 28, 2019:

• Selling, general and administrative costs of $48 - $50 million, including: - $5.9 million of stock-based compensation expense, an increase of $2.0 million over fiscal year 2018 - $2.0 million of franchisee convention related expense in Q4, an increase of $1.5 million over fiscal year 2018, which is offset by contributions received that are recorded in Royalty revenue, franchise fees and other revenue - $2.2 million in additional payroll related expense and other expense related to national advertising, which is offset by advertising contributions recorded in Advertising fees and related income
• Interest expense of $17.8 million
• Estimated effective tax rate of approximately 25%
• Diluted shares outstanding of approximately 29.8 million

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Wingstop (WING) click here.

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