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BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates, Fall Y/Y

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BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI - Free Report) reported third-quarter fiscal 2020 results, wherein earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the metrics declined on a year-over-year basis.

Following the announcement, shares of BJ's Restaurants declined 2% during after-hour trading session on Oct 22.

Earnings & Revenues

Adjusted net loss of 44 cents per share was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 70 cents. In the year-ago period, the company had reported adjusted earnings of 18 cents per share.

BJs Restaurants, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

BJs Restaurants, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

BJs Restaurants, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | BJs Restaurants, Inc. Quote

Total quarterly revenues of $198.9 million beat the consensus estimate of $179 million by 11.1%. However, the top line declined 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. Lower comparable restaurant sales led to the decline. However, total restaurant operating weeks increased approximately 0.9% from the prior-year quarter. Comparable restaurant sales declined 30.2% compared with a 0.3% drop in the year-ago quarter.

Expenses & Operating Margins

During the fiscal third quarter, labor costs, as a percentage of sales, came in at 37.5%, flat year over year. Occupancy and operating costs (as a percentage of sales) were 28.4% compared with 23.3% in the year-ago quarter. General and administrative expenses (as a percentage of sales) increased 260 bps to 7.7% in the quarter.

Restaurant-level operating margin came in at 9.5% compared with 13.5% in the year-ago quarter.

Store Count

BJ’s Restaurants reopened majority (or 87%) of its dining rooms with capacity limitations.

With respect to unit expansion, BJ's Restaurants chief executive officer, Greg Trojan stated, “We remain committed to our long term national expansion plan to operate at least 425 BJ’s restaurants while continuing to balance new restaurant growth and overall quality and hospitality.”

As of Sep 29, 2020, BJ’s Restaurants owned and operated 209 casual dining restaurants (in 29 states), out of which one is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Balance Sheet

As of Sep 29, 2020, cash and cash equivalents totaled $64.9 million compared with $22.4 million on Dec 31, 2019. Total debt as of Sep 29, 2020, came in at $126.8 million compared with $143 million at 2019-end.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

BJ's Restaurants currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include Brinker International, Inc. (EAT - Free Report) Chuy's Holdings, Inc. (CHUY - Free Report) and Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. . Brinker sports a Zacks Rank #1, while Chuy's Holdings and Fiesta Restaurant carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Brinker has a three-five-year earnings per share growth rate of 12.7%.

Chuy's Holdings has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 87.3%, on average.

Fiesta Restaurant’s 2021 earnings are expected to surge 260.7%.

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