COLUMBUS Ohio Bob Evans Farms Inc. stock surged more than 15 percent on Wednesday afternoon after the company beat Wall Street expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter earnings, which were boosted by reduced cost of sales and tighter labor cost controls. The company’s restaurant sales continued to suffer, however.
For the quarter ended April 24, Bob Evans’ earnings rose 31 percent to $21.1 million, or 69 cents per share, from earnings of $16.1 million, or 52 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Analysts on average had predicted earnings of 39 cents a share for the company's latest quarter, according to Thomson Financial.
Bob Evans operates 570 namesake family-dining restaurants and 144 casual-dining Mimi’s Cafe locations. It also is a producer and distributor of pork sausage and convenience food items.
Fourth-quarter corporate revenue fell 1 percent to $431 million, mostly on a decrease in the company’s restaurant segment sales, which fell 2 percent to $354.5 million. Same-store sales fell 1.6 percent at Bob Evans and 7.1 percent at Mimi’s.
Despite the sales downturn, Bob Evans was able to benefit from reduced commodity costs, supply chain savings, menu shifts to higher-margin items and reduced labor expenses, it reported.
The company’s stock rose 15.8 percent on Wednesday to close at $31.02 a share. For the past 52 weeks, it had traded between $12.51 per share and $34.70 per share.
For the full year ended April 24, Bob Evans posted a net loss of $5.1 million, or 17 cents per share, versus a profit of $64.9 million, or $1.95 per share, last year. The fiscal 2009 results included $75.3 million in net charges, including goodwill impairment and other charges for Mimi’s Cafe, the company said.
Annual revenue rose 1 percent to $1.75 billion.
Contact Sarah E. Lockyer at [email protected].
