People visit a Chipotle restaurant in Miami on Feb. 9, 2022.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Chipotle Mexican Grill on Tuesday posted quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ expectations as more customers visited its restaurants.
Shares of the company rose more than 2% in extended trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: $10.36 adjusted vs. $9.75 expected
- Revenue: $2.52 billion vs. $2.49 billion expected
Chipotle reported fourth-quarter net income of $282.1 million, or $10.21 per share, up from $223.7 million, or $8.02 per share, a year earlier. The company said higher beef, produce and queso costs weighed on margins.
Excluding certain items, the burrito chain earned $10.36 per share.
Net sales rose 15.4% to $2.52 billion.
The company’s same-store sales rose 8.4%, beating StreetAccount estimates of 7.1%. Executives said sales grew across every consumer income level.
Chipotle said foot traffic rose 7.4% in the quarter, bucking an industry-wide trend of declining visits. Restaurant giants McDonald’s and Starbucks both reported traffic declines for the last three months of the year.
Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung said the return of carne asada contributed to the quarter’s strong same-store sales growth. The chain has also been making strides to improve productivity inside its restaurants by increasing training and adding more employees to its make lines.
“Throughput is one of those activities in an organization our size, it’s like taking a boulder and starting to push it downhill. It starts really, really slow, but once it starts to pick up speed, it just continues to build momentum,” Chipotle Chief Operating Officer Scott Boatwright told CNBC.
Additionally, Chipotle’s sales received a boost from a 3% menu price increase it implemented in October.
The company opened 121 new locations during the quarter.
Looking to 2024, Chipotle is…
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