Wendy's Stock Gains After Q2 Earnings Crush Estimates, Raises FY21 Outlook, Boosts Dividend

Wendy's Co WEN reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 22.6% year-on-year, to $493.3 million, beating the analyst consensus of $461.63 million.
Systemwide sales in the U.S. grew 20.6%, and International increased 48.2%.
Same-restaurant sales growth was 17.4%.
The company-operated restaurant margin expanded by 590 basis points to 20.3%.
General and administrative expenses rose 29.9% Y/Y to $63.1 million.
The operating margin was 25.7%, and operating income for the quarter rose 108.7% to $126.7 million.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 34.6% Y/Y to $131.1 million.
Adjusted EPS of $0.27 beat the analyst consensus of $0.18.
The company held $640.16 million in cash and equivalents as of July 4, 2021. Net cash provided by operating activities year-to-date amounted to $158.8 million with a free cash flow of $185.8 million.
Wendy's raised its regular quarterly cash dividend by 20% to $0.12 per share, payable on September 15, 2021, to stockholders of record as of September 1, 2021.
The company's Board also approved an increase to the existing share repurchase authorization by $70 million to a total of $220 million.
Outlook: Wendy's raised the FY21 adjusted EPS outlook to $0.79 - $0.81 from the prior $0.72 - $0.74, versus the consensus of $0.74.
It sees global systemwide sales growth of 11%-13% (prior 8%-10%), excluding the impact of the 53rd week.
Price Action: WEN shares are trading higher by 4.40% at $23.00 in premarket on the last check Wednesday.
Photo by dankeck via Wikimedia

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