Sonic Shares Plunge Lower After Missing On Revenue Estimates

Shares of restaurant chain Sonic Corporation SONC are plunging after reporting a fourth quarter revenue miss despite beating on earnings estimates.

Sonic delivered earnings of $0.45 per share, versus consensus estimates of $0.44. Revenues came in at $162.1 million, far short of the $167 million estimate. As a result shares are down over 11 percent after hours.

"We delivered good overall performance in fiscal 2016, including 2.6% system-wide same-store sales growth. Slowing consumer trends that began in April, however, persisted through the fourth quarter, resulting in lower-than-expected sales and profits in the fourth fiscal quarter," said CEO Cliff Hudson. "At the same time, we are pleased to see approximately 1% net unit growth for fiscal 2016 with 31 net new units, sound progress towards our net unit growth goal of 2% to 3% by the end of the decade.

Key Highlights in Q4

• Net income per diluted share increased 6 percent in Q4 year-over-year
• Same-store sales decreased 2 percent
• 18 new franchise drive-ins opened
• The company is altering its refranchise model, an initiative to move towards a 95 percent-franchised system by the end of FY 2017