Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA), Inc. PZZA is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2020 results on Feb 25, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.4%.
Q4 Expectations
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 42 cents, indicating an improvement from 37 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Over the past seven days, earnings estimates have remained stable. The consensus mark for revenues stands at $463.4 million, suggesting growth of 11% from the prior-year reported number.
Factors to Note
The company’s fourth-quarter results are likely to reflect robust comparable sales growth. The company’s comps have been benefiting from robust North America and International segment performance.
The company’s online and digital marketing activities have been increasing significantly over the past several years in response to rising use of online and mobile web technology. In fact, Papa John’s continues to reinforce its commitment toward providing a better customer experience with enhancements to its digital ordering process. Moreover, the company’s partnership with UberEATS, DoorDash and Postmates might have aided the company’s performance in the quarter to be reported.
Notably, the China region continues to experience growth, driven by the company’s optimized restaurant model, brand design enhancements and increased integration with third-party aggregators that is expanding its accessibility channels. Also, the company’s developmental agreements across Mexico, Egypt, Russia, Spain, Chile, the Netherlands, Colombia and Boston remain encouraging.
However, high costs might have weighed on the company’s margin. Notably, total costs for the third-quarter fiscal 2020 increased 12% year over year to $448.4 million from $400.5 million reported in the prior-year quarter.
Papa Johns International, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise 
Papa Johns International, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Papa Johns International, Inc. Quote
What the Zacks Model Unveils
Our proven model doesn’t conclusively predict an earnings beat for Papa John's this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that's not the case here.
Earnings ESP: Papa John's has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Zacks Rank: Papa John's carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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