Top Performer for Wed: Steak n Shake (SNS)

We are visiting the Retail-Restaurants industry for a second consecutive day, as shares of The Steak n Shake Company (SNS - Snapshot Report) have advanced more than 11%. (Tuesday's top performer was Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (RT - Snapshot Report), which announced a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings surprise of 40% yesterday.)

SNS recently announced some encouraging sales figures for its fiscal third quarter, which has sparked today's gain while pushing volume well above its daily average to around 370,000 shares. The company's average volume is about 195,000.

There are 4 other companies from this industry on today's 223-stock Zacks #1 Rank List: Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (BOBE - Snapshot Report), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL - Snapshot Report), DineEquity, Inc. (DIN - Snapshot Report) and O'Charley's, Inc. (CHUX - Snapshot Report).

Same-Store Sales Gain 5%

On Tuesday, SNS announced that customer traffic for its fiscal third quarter, which ended June 2009, gained 13.4%, which helped same-store sales to rise 5%. (Same-store sales are associated with only those restaurants in operation for at least 18 months.)

This is encouraging news given the challenges that face companies in this industry. As most already know, the sour economy is forcing many diners to stay at home for their meals, rather than venturing out to locations such as SNS. In addition, when they do go out, they tend to spend less money than usual.

For the fiscal third quarter, analysts currently expect a profit of 4 cents per share, up a penny, or more than 33%, from a month earlier. In the year-ago quarter, SNS lost 4 cents per share.

Earnings Estimates Up in Past Month

Analysts expect 7 cents per share for this fiscal year, ending September 2009, which is up 75% from 30 days ago while reversing a loss estimate of 12 cents from 2 months ago.

For next fiscal year, ending September 2010, analysts are currently expecting 41 cents per share, which is nearly 500% better than what's expected for this fiscal year. Furthermore, that consensus has improved by more than 46% in the past month.

Fiscal Second Quarter

In late April, SNS reported a profit per share of 11 cents, which reversed a year-ago loss and beat the consensus for a loss of 10 cents by more than 200%. Net sales declined by only .7%, while same-store sales were able to increase by 2.4%.