Customers arrive at a Cava restaurant on June 22, 2023 in New York City.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Cava On Thursday, the company raised its full-year forecast on strong restaurant traffic and better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue.
The company’s shares rose 7% in after-hours trading. The stock has more than doubled in value this year as of Thursday’s close, giving Cava a market capitalization of about $11.6 billion.
Here’s how the company’s quarterly report for the quarter ended July 14 compared to Wall Street expectations, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 17 cents, 13 cents expected
- Revenue: $233 million, $220 million expected
The Mediterranean restaurant chain reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $19.7 million, or 17 cents a share, up from $6.5 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier.
net sales grew 35% to $233 million. The company’s same-store sales grew 14.4%, exceeding StreetAccount’s forecast of 7.9%.
While many other restaurant companies reported a drop in traffic as consumers cut back on spending, Cava said traffic increased 9.5% in the quarter. Cava CEO and co-founder Brett Schulman cited the chain’s new grilled steak option as one of the reasons customers kept coming to its restaurants this quarter.
Cava opened a net 18 new stores during the quarter, bringing its total number of restaurants to 341.
Cava currently expects same-store sales to grow 8.5% to 9.5% in fiscal 2024, up from the previous range of 4.5% to 6.5%. The company also expects to open 54 to 57 new stores this year, up from its previous forecast of 50 to 54 restaurants.
Cava also expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be $109 million to $114 million. Previously, the company had forecast adjusted EBITDA of $100 million to $105 million for the current fiscal year.
