Investing.com -- Shares in Ruby Tuesday Inc (NYSE:RT) tumbled more than 4% in after-hours trading, after the Tennessee-based family restaurant chain posted worse than expected sales and earnings for its first quarter of fiscal year 2016 on Thursday afternoon.
During the company's first quarter, which ended in early-September, Ruby Tuesday posted a loss of $4.19 million or 0.07 per share. The losses marked a stark contrast to the same period last year when the restaurant chain reported earnings of $2.56 million or 0.04 per share. Ruby Tuesday also reported earnings adjusted for one-time items of 0.03 for the quarter, slightly above 0.01 per share earnings in the same category last year.
While the restaurant saw a minor increase in same-restaurant sales by 0.6% over the three-month period, it still fell short of analysts' revenue forecasts for the quarter. Over the 13-week period, Ruby Tuesday earned revenue of $279.5 million, just below analysts expectations of $280 million. In last year's first quarter, Ruby Tuesday's revenues were also slightly higher at $281.182 million.
Ruby Tuesday blamed the positioning of the Labor Day Holiday in September for the revenue dip. Unlike the opening quarter of 2015, the company's sales from the three-day holiday will be realized this year in the second quarter.
"We were pleased with positive same-restaurant sales in the quarter, on top of a relatively strong sales performance in the first quarter of last year," Ruby Tuesday CEO J.J. Buettgen said in a statement. "Our same-restaurant sales gain reflected check growth partially offset by a decline in guest counts during the quarter.”
"We accelerated spending in these critical areas to ensure our restaurant facilities support the delivery of a consistently great guest experience. These were necessary investments that will support positive results in the future," Buettgen added. "Further, we expect our inventory management system, which was fully rolled out in the first quarter, will benefit restaurant level margins in the back-half of this fiscal year and expect restaurant level margins to be in-line with guidance for the year.”
Shares in Ruby Tuesday fell 0.31 or 4.73% to 6.55 in after-hours.