News

Wingstop CEO credits advertising, delivery for solid Q3 earnings

Submitted

October 30, 2019

Wingstop Inc. announced Tuesday that system-wide sales increased 21.6% to $383.5 million and its restaurant count was up 10.3% to 1,340 global locations during the third quarter ending Sept. 28.

"We are pleased with our results in the quarter as we continue to demonstrate strong momentum in the business in 2019, which reflects the continued execution against our key strategic pillars of driving long-term same store sales growth, maintaining best in class unit economics and expansion of our global footprint," Chairman and CEO Charlie Morrison said in a company press release. "Our national advertising campaign is resonating with guests and we have already reached our 2019 goal of offering delivery at 80% of our domestic restaurants, which has contributed to the same-store sales growth of 12.3% and the opening of 37 net new restaurants in the third quarter. These industry leading results are a demonstration of the progress we are making towards our vision of becoming a top 10 global restaurant brand."

Other highlights for Q3 2019 compared to 2018 included:

• Domestic same-store sales increased 12.3%.
• Total revenue increased to $49.9 million.
• Net income was $5.9 million compared to $6.3 million in the prior fiscal third quarter.

Quarterly dividend
The board of directors authorized and declared a quarterly dividend of 11 cents per share of common stock, resulting in a total dividend of approximately $3.2 million. It will be paid Dec. 13.

Financial outlook
Wingstop is updating its outlook for the fiscal year ending Dec. 28 by:

• Increasing domestic same-store sales growth to between 10% and 11%, previously projected to be high-single digits.
• Maintaining projected system-wide net new restaurants of between 136 and 142, or approximately 11% system-wide unit growth.
• Increasing fully diluted earnings per share to between 75 cents and 77 cents per share, based on 29.8 million shares outstanding, previously projected to be between 72 cents and 74 cents per share, based on 29.8 million shares outstanding.