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Cracker Barrel (CBRL) Tops Q4 Earnings, Lags Revenues

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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL - Free Report) is principally engaged in the operation and development of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant and retail concept. Its distinctiveness in the retail-restaurant sector lies in the fact that apart from serving food, its restaurant establishments have old-country feel along with unique gift shops.    

Cracker Barrel’s focus on improving guest experience, menu innovation, promotional offerings, excellent operations execution and extensive marketing efforts has been boosting comps. Meanwhile, the company’s cost saving initiatives, commodity costs favorability and the growth of its off-premise business, is likely to further drive growth.

However, a soft consumer spending environment in the U.S. restaurant space might continue to affect traffic. Moreover, management notes that Cracker Barrel’s retail business has been under pressure, given the challenges faced by the retail industry, as a whole.

Investors should note that the consensus estimate for CBRL has hardly witnessed any significant movement over the last 60 days. Meanwhile, CBRL’s earnings have been strong over the past few quarters. In fact, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 4.63%. However, revenues posted positive surprises in just one of the trailing four quarters.

CBRL currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) but that could change following Cracker Barrel’s earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings: CBRL beats on earnings. Our consensus earnings estimate called for earnings per share of $2.18, and the company reported earnings of $2.23 per share.

Revenues: CBRL reported revenues of $743.2 million, lagging the Zacks consensus estimate of $752 million.

Key Stats to Note: In fourth-quarter fiscal 2017, comparable restaurant sales and comparable retail sales decreased 0.8% and 4.4%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.

Stock Price Impact: At the time of writing, the stock price of Cracker Barrel was up over 2% during pre-market trading hours following the earnings release.

Check back for our full write up on this CBRL earnings report later!

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