A customer sits outside of a Chipotle restaurant in Santa Clara, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Chipotle Mexican Grill‘s quarterly earnings and revenue topped Wall Street’s estimates, fueled by consumers’ willingness to pay more for their burritos and bowls.
Shares of the company rose 2% in extended trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: $5.70 adjusted vs. $5.64 expected
- Revenue: $2.02 billion vs. $2.01 billion expected
The restaurant chain reported first-quarter net income of $158.3 million, or $5.59 per share, up from $127.1 million, or $4.45 per share, a year earlier.
Chipotle’s restaurant operating margins shrank as it paid more for beef, avocados, paper and labor. However, menu price hikes and lower delivery costs helped offset those higher costs.
Excluding corporate restructuring costs, certain legal expenses and other items, Chipotle earned $5.70 per share, beating the $5.64 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Net sales rose 16% to $2.02 billion, topping expectations of $2.01 billion.
Same-store sales, which tracks sales at locations open at least 13 months, climbed 9% in the quarter. Chipotle had warned previously that the omicron variant and winter storms hurt January storms, but the chain topped StreetAccount estimates of 7.9% for its same-store sales growth.
In-person sales jumped by a third compared with the year-ago period, but digital transactions still accounted for 41% of total orders.
Chipotle opened 51 new locations during the quarter, most of which had digital-only drive-thru lanes, or “Chipotlanes.”
The company didn’t provide an outlook for the full year but said it expects same-store sales growth in the second quarter between 10% to 12%, assuming that current trends persist. Wall Street was anticipating that same-store sales next quarter would increase by 9.3%, according to StreetAccount.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.