Papa Johns Q3 Earnings Surge, But Miss Estimates; Stock Down In Pre-market

(RTTNews) - Papa John's International, Inc. (PZZA), a pizza chain, on Thursday reported higher earnings and revenues for the third quarter. Both earnings and revenue missed the Street view.

Quarterly profit increased to $15.861 million, or $0.48 per share from $8.331 million or $0.23 per share same period last year, on transaction growth, lower food costs and continued operational efficiency improvements.

Excluding items, earnings were $0.53 per share compared to $0.54 per share in the previous year.

On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.57 per share for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue grew 2.4 percent to $522.812 million from $510.512 million of the previous year. The Street estimate for revenue is $530.5 million.

Further, the company announced a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.46 per share payable on November 24, to shareholders of record as on November 13.

In pre-market activity, Papa John's shares are trading at $62.34 down 4.49% on Nasdaq