Cracker Barrel Q1 Adj. EPS Beats Estimates; Lifts FY15 EPS View - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL), the operator of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant and retail concept, reported first quarter net profit to $34.0 million, or $1.42 a share, compared to $27.2 million, or $1.14 a share, last year.

Adjusted earnings for the latest first quarter rose to $1.42 per share from $1.22 per share in the prior-year quarter. On average, 7 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit of $1.29 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Quarterly total revenue was $683.43 million, up 5% from $649.14 million in the comparable quarter last year, while 6 analysts expected revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter. Comparable-store restaurant sales grew by 3.3% and comparable-store retail sales increased 6.1%.

For fiscal 2015, the company now expects earnings per share of between $5.95 and $6.10 and total revenue of approximately 2.8 billion. The revenue projection for fiscal 2015 reflects the expected opening of six or seven new Cracker Barrel stores and projected increases in comparable store restaurant and retail sales in a range of 2.5% to 3.5%. Further, the company expects an effective tax rate of between 32% and 33%, which assumes that the Work Opportunity Tax Credit or WOTC is not renewed.

Analysts now expect fiscal 2015 earnings of $6.02 per share and revenue of $2.78 billion.

Earlier, the company expected earnings of $5.80 to $5.95 per share and total revenue between $2.75 billion to $2.80 billion.