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Cracker Barrel (CBRL) Tops Q1 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 increased focus on off-premise business, improving guest experience, menu innovation and excellent operational execution are expected to boost comps. Meanwhile, the company’s cost saving initiatives along with commodity costs favorability also bode well.

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 been moving slightly downwards 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 4.96%. However, revenues lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters.

CBRL currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) 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 $1.86, and the company reported earnings of $1.92 per share.

Revenues: CBRL reported revenues of $710.4 million, lagging the Zacks consensus estimate of $719.1 million.

Key Stats to Note: In first-quarter fiscal 2018, comparable restaurant sales increased 0.2% year over year. However, comparable retail sales decreased 3.6% in the quarter.

Stock Price Impact: At the time of writing, the stock price of Cracker Barrel was up nearly 1% 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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