=Panera Bread (PNRA) reported earnings on Tue 25 Oct 2016 (a/h)

Panera Bread beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.37 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.34; revenues rose 2.9% year/year to $684.2 mln vs the $680.11 mln Capital IQ Consensus. 
  • Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 3.4%, franchise-operated comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 0.2%, and system-wide comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 1.7% compared to the same period in fiscal 2015.
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.96-2.01 vs. $2.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. The Company is today setting a target for fiscal Q4 2016 Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales growth of 3.5% to 4.0%.
• The Company announced today that Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales in the first 27 days of fiscal Q4 2016 were up 3.4% and were up 6.8% on a two-year basis. The Company estimates the impact of Hurricane Matthew resulted in a transaction loss of ~35 to 40 basis points in the first 27 days of fiscal Q4 2016. As previously announced on the Company's fiscal Q2 2016 earnings call, this is the last time the Company will report 27-day comparable net bakery-cafe sales. The Company continues to expect 90 to 100 system-wide bakery-cafe openings in fiscal 2016. The average weekly net sales performance for new Company-owned bakery-cafes is now expected to be modestly above the high-end of the previously provided targeted range of $45,000 to $47,000. Non-GAAP Operating Margin For fiscal 2016, non-GAAP operating margin is now expected to be at the more favorable end of the previously provided range of down 50 to 100 basis points when compared to fiscal 2015, excluding the impact of certain items in both fiscal years.