Associated Press | Shares of Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc.
climbed Thursday after the restaurant operator forecast better profit
for its fiscal first quarter and full year than analysts expected.
Morton’s said late Wednesday that it anticipates earning 25 cents to 30
cents per share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $291 million
to $296 million. For the first quarter, it expects adjusted earnings of
6 cents to 9 cents per share on sales of $72 million to $74 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, whose estimates usually remove one-time items, on average expect Morton’s to earn 22 cents per share for the year 4 cents per share for the quarter.
Shares of Morton’s, which have traded at $1.73 to $4.97 over the past 52 weeks, gained 32 cents, or 7.2 percent, to finish at $4.71 Thursday.
For the quarter that ended Jan. 3, Morton’s lost $68.1 million, or $4.28 per share, compared with a loss of $8.1 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding an impairment charge and other one-time items, it earned 25 cents per share, a penny more than analysts forecast, on revenue of $79.2 million that missed Wall Street’s forecast of $81.1 million.
For the quarter, sales at Morton’s steakhouses open at least a year slipped 11.6 percent in the quarter, which was one week shorter than the same period a year earlier.
The company’s full-year loss widened to $79.6 million, or $5.01 per share, from $67.7 million, or $4.21 per share, as its annual revenue fell 15 percent to $281.1 million.
Jeff Farmer of Jefferies & Co. told investors Morton’s full-year forecast seems too optimistic, given the company’s mixed record for meeting its outlooks the past two years. But he said economic conditions and sales at Morton’s stores open at least a year are improving.
Sales at stores open at least a year are a key indicator of restaurants’ and retailers’ performance because they exclude growth at stores that open or close during the year.
Farmer raised his target price for Morton’s shares to $5 from $4 and maintained his “Hold” rating.
