New stores help boost Chipotle profit, revenue
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Thursday posted sharply higher fourth-quarter profit as restaurant openings and higher menu prices helped push revenue up 12 percent.
The Denver-based fast-casual restaurant chain known for its bulging burritos (NYSE: CMG) posted quarterly net income of $31.6 million, or 99 cents a share, up from $17 million, or 52 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2008.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 81 cents a share, Thomson Reuters reported.
Revenue for the fourth quarter rose to $387.4 million from $345.3 million a year earlier. Analysts had forecast revenue of $388.2 million.
Chipotle opened 45 new restaurants in the quarter, bringing its total to 956 payday loans in 1 hour. Same-store restaurant sales rose 2 percent, largely on menu price increases.
Revenue-level operating margins were 24.5 percent, up from 21.1 percent a year earlier.
For full-year 2009, Chipotle reported net income of $126.8 million, or $3.95 a share, versus $78.2 million, or $2.36 a share, in 2008.
Full-year revenue was $1.518 billion, up from $1.331 billion the previous year.
Chipotle said it expects to open 120 to 130 new restaurants in 2010, with flat same-store sales. It plans a move into the United Kingdom by spring.