Comps Will Be In Focus As 3 Restaurant Stocks Prepare To Report Q3 Results

Earnings season for the restaurant sector is off to a rough start.

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI reported its third-quarter results earlier this week in which the restaurant chain's earnings per share and revenue fell short of what analysts were expecting.

Moreover, comparable restaurant sales fell 3.4 percent in the quarter, and the company's poor outlook prompted several analyst research firms — including Wedbush, Barclays and Morgan Stanley — to offer research notes with a less than favorable opinion of the stock.

Black Box Intelligence Data

Black Box Intelligence, a research firm dedicated to providing restaurant industry metrics, reported earlier this month that the downturn for most of the restaurant industry continued throughout September.

Related Link: Are Restaurants In Trouble? Gadfly's Shelly Banjo Thinks So

In fact, same-store sales remained negative for the fourth consecutive month, while restaurant chains had to deal with declining guest counts. Meanwhile, restaurant job growth notably dropped in the month after posting solid gains over the past few months.

As a whole, same-store sales growth for September was negative 1.1 percent, marking a decline of 0.5 percentage points from August.

In fact, the third quarter of 2016 saw a same-store sales decline of 1.0 and traffic fell 3.4 percent which marks the weakest quarter since the second quarter of 2010.

Notable Restaurants Yet To Report

Several notable restaurant chains have yet to report their quarterly results. Given the industry-wide trends and bearish sentiment plaguing restaurant chains, investors should proceed into the earnings report with caution.

Below are some of the yet-to-report names and their respective report dates:

• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG: October 25.
• Texas Roadhouse Inc TXRH: November 1.
• Zoe's Kitchen Inc ZOES: November 14.

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