BJ's Restaurants Meets on the Top Line, Misses Where It Counts

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

BJ's Restaurants (NAS: BJRI) reported earnings on April 26. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended April 3 (Q1), BJ's Restaurants met expectations on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved significantly and GAAP earnings per share grew significantly.


Gross margins contracted, operating margins dropped, and net margins increased.

Revenue details
BJ's Restaurants logged revenue of $167.6 million. The 13 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see a top line of $168.4 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 16% higher than the prior-year quarter's $144.9 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.30. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.31 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.30 for Q1 were 20% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.25 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 19.8%, 50 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 7.1%, 10 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.1%, 10 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $180.5 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.33.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $715.9 million. The average EPS estimate is $1.30.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 193 members out of 244 rating the stock outperform, and 51 members rating it underperform. Among 85 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 68 give BJ's Restaurants a green thumbs-up, and 17 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on BJ's Restaurants is outperform, with an average price target of $56.69.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of BJ's Restaurants. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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