Why Red Robin Shares Were on Fire

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers were sizzling today, climbing as much as 24% after crushing estimates in its quarterly report.

So what: Net income at the burger chain more than doubled as adjusted earnings per share jumped to $0.59 a share, from $0.28 a year ago. Analysts had expected just $0.44 a share. Revenue grew at a healthy clip as well, climbing 17% to $240.7 million, better than the consensus at $232.9 million. Operating margin also improved by 70 basis points to 20.6%.

Now what: Despite the strong report, there was one area of concern. Same-store sales, a key figure in the restaurant industry, grew by just 1.4%, indicating that the vast majority of additional sales came from new stores. Red Robin projects comparable sales growth of 2.5% to 3% in 2013, in part from higher prices, and an increase in its company-owned store count of about 6%. This means revenue growth should slow down considerably in the coming year. Considering that, today's big jump seems a bit overdone.

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The article Why Red Robin Shares Were on Fire originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Jeremy Bowman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't 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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