Ruby Tuesday Beats Street

Ruby Tuesday Inc. (RT - Snapshot Report) posted fiscal first quarter results after the closing bell yesterday. The company recorded net income of $6.1 million, or 11 cents per share, compared to $285,000, or a penny per share in the year-ago period. The result also edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 10 cents per share by a penny.

The Maryville, TN-based company said revenues declined 7.2% year over year to $300.6 million due to a 3.1% reduction in same-restaurant sales coupled with the closure of 45-company owned restaurants, compared to the year-ago quarter. Ruby Tuesday operates in the casual dining segment, which is adversely affected by the continuing recession as customers trend towards lower priced fast-food chains such as Burger King (BKC) and McDonald’s (MCD - Analyst Report) or dine more at home.

Despite sluggish revenues, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) expanded 26.3% year over year to $12.8 million, while EBIT margin grew by 120 basis points (bps) to 4.3%. The growth was primarily driven by stringent cost control initiatives leading to an 8.5% reduction in payroll expenses to $100.5 million, 11.3% decrease in other restaurant operating costs to $60.9 million and a 27.6% decline in selling, general and administrative expenses to $19 million.

Ruby Tuesday’s debt at the quarter stood at $386 million, compared to $565 million a year-ago. During the quarter, the company paid down $107 million of debt, which reduced interest expenses to $5.4 million from $9.8 million last year. The debt repayment was partially funded by a $73 million secondary offering of 11.5 million shares in July this year.

Looking ahead, management stated that it will not open new company-owned restaurants during fiscal 2010 and will go ahead with the closure of 15 restaurants as part of an earlier announced plan to close 30 over time. The company predicts same-restaurant sales to reduce by 1% to 3% in the fiscal, while capital expenditure is expected between $18 million to $20 million.

The company also said that earnings per share is expected to range between 50 cents and 60 cents per share, which includes a 7-cents dilution related to the recent equity offering. The guidance is in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 57 cents per share, which has edged down a penny over the past month as 1 of 8 covering analysts lowered expectations.

Ruby Tuesday operates and franchises casual dining restaurants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and 13 other countries and regions under the Ruby Tuesday brand. The company also owns and operates two Wok Hay restaurants. As of Sept. 1, 2009, the company owned and operated 670 of its namesake restaurants, while domestic and international franchisees (including Hawaii) operated 171 and 55 restaurants, respectively.

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