Investing.com -- Shares in Panera Bread Company (O:PNRA) rallied more than 2% in after-hours after the restaurant and bakery topped analysts' expectations with its quarterly earnings and increased its 2016 full-year guidance on Tuesday.
During the St. Louis-based company's fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, Panera finished with revenues of $691.8 million on adjusted earnings per share of 1.88, above analysts' forecasts for per share earnings of 1.78. Panera Bread slightly missed analysts' target of fourth quarter revenues of $695.7 million, after finishing the three-period with net sales of $691.8 million.
Still, Panera reported diluted EPS of 1.88 for the quarter, excluding one-time items, representing a 1% increase from the same quarter a year earlier. It came as Panera's company-owned comparable net bakery-café sales surged 6.4% over the first 41 days of 2016, extending gains from the previous quarter when its same-store sales jumped 3.6%.
"Our strategic plan is working," Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich said in a statement. "We are confident that our results will continue to strengthen as the startup and transition costs associated with our initiatives begin to crest and our sales continue to grow."
In addition, the company announced that it opened 18 new bakery-cafes in the fourth quarter, while its franchisees opened 15 new stores during the period. For the year as a whole, Panera opened 57 new company-owned stores, as well as 55 new franchises. At the end of fiscal year 2015, Panera operated 1,972 system-wide bakery-cafes.
Moving forward, Panera anticipates diluted earnings per share growth of 2 to 5% in 2016 in comparison with its full-year diluted EPS from last year. Panera is also targeting comparable store sales of 3.5 to 4.5% for the new fiscal year.
"We now expect the EPS growth we saw in Q4 2015 will improve in 2016 and further accelerate in 2017," Shaich added. "Today, we are confident we are on a path to return to sustained double-digit earnings growth."
Shares in Panera Bread jumped 4.55 or 2.46% to 189.27. In the regular session, Panera shares fell 1.95 or 1.04% to 184.72.