What's Going On With Restaurant Chain Wingstop Stock Today?

Wingstop Inc WING shares are trading lower in premarket on Wednesday after the fourth-quarter FY24 earnings.

The company reported fourth-quarter sales growth of 27.4% year-on-year to $161.82 million, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $164.54 million.

System-wide sales increased 27.6% Y/Y to $1.2 billion, Domestic same-store sales increased 10.1% versus last year, and Digital sales jumped to 70.3% of system-wide sales. Domestic restaurant AUVs increased to $2.1 million.

Revenue from royalty, franchise fees, and others rose 31.2% Y/Y, Advertising fee revenue increased 30%, and company-owned restaurant sales grew 14.6%.

Total costs and expenses expanded 23.3% Y/Y to $119.98 million. The operating margin was 25.8%, and the operating income for the quarter gained 40.3% to $41.8 million.

Adjusted EBITDA of $56.3 million increased 44.2% Y/Y. EPS of $0.92 beat the consensus estimate of $0.87.

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Wingstop held $336.8 million in cash and equivalents as of December 28. There were 2,563 Wingstop restaurants system-wide, including 2,204 restaurants in the U.S.

The company’s board of directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, which will be paid on March 28, 2025, to stockholders of record as of March 7, 2025.

As of December 28, 2024, $311.1 million remained available under the share repurchase program previously approved by the company's Board of Directors.

“We reached new highs with domestic AUVs of $2.1 million and opened 349 net new restaurants – a remarkable 15.8% growth rate, demonstrating the strength of our unit economics and confidence in our strategies by our Brand Partners,” said President and CEO Michael Skipworth.

FY25 Outlook: Wingstop sees low- to mid-single digit domestic same store sales growth. The company expects global unit growth rate of 14% to 15%. Wingstop sees depreciation and amortization of $29 million – $30 million.

Price Action: WING shares are trading lower by 10.5% at $274.00 in premarket at the last check Wednesday.

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