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Papa John's (PZZA) Reports Preliminary Comps, Stock Gains

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Papa John's International, Inc. (PZZA - Free Report) reported preliminary comparable restaurant sales for the five weeks and fiscal second quarter ended Jun 28, 2020. Following the announcement, the company’s shares gained 1.3% during trading hours on Jun 30.

Preliminary Comparable Sales

For the five weeks ended Jun 28, comparable sales at Domestic company-owned restaurants, North America franchised restaurants, System-wide North America restaurants and System-wide international restaurants rose 18.5%, 26.3%, 24.4% and 6%, respectively. Markedly, in the month of June, the company not only witnessed double-digit sales growth in North America but also strong growth internationally.

For the fiscal second quarter (ended Jun 28), the metrics improved 22.6%, 29.6%, 28% and 5.3%, at Domestic company-owned restaurants, North America franchised restaurants, System-wide North America restaurants and System-wide international restaurants, respectively.

Rob Lynch, president and CEO stated, “The events of the past few months have accelerated Papa John’s transformation into an innovation-driven organization, contributing to our strong business momentum today. This focus on innovation has enabled initiatives like ‘No Contact Delivery’ and Papadias, as well as an exciting pipeline of upcoming products.”

So far this year, shares of Papa John's have gained 25.8% against the industry’s decline of 9.3%.

Other Updates

Although coronavirus has triggered a catastrophe in terms of lives lost and financial impact, the company appears resilient enough to navigate through these uncertain times. Stores in some international markets (like the U.K.), are open predominantly for delivery only, while restaurants in North America remain fully operational. The company further announced that non-traditional restaurants located in universities and stadiums are temporarily closed.

Notably, the number of restaurants temporarily closed due the pandemic are only now approximately 225 (primarily in Europe and Latin America), compared to 320 as reported on May 27.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Papa John’s currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Other top-ranked stocks in the same space are Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK - Free Report) , Wingstop Inc. (WING - Free Report) and Domino's Pizza, Inc. (DPZ - Free Report) . Jack in the Box and Wingstop sport a Zacks Rank #1, while Domino's carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Jack in the Box’s 2021 earnings are expected to rise 22.8%.

Wingstop has a three-five year earnings per share growth rate of 11%.

Domino's beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, delivering an earnings surprise of 12.7%, on average

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