Investing.com -- Shares in Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ:PNRA) rose considerably in after-hours trading after the restaurant chain topped analysts' forecasts with their quarterly results on Tuesday, bucking an industry-wide trend of subpar growth during the current earnings period.
For the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, Panera Bread reported net profit of $34.5 million on earnings of 1.46 per share. It came as company revenue rose 3.3% to $698.9 million, as systemwide sales among restaurants open for at least a year grew by 2.3% on an annual basis. When the effects of one-time refranchising costs were excluded, Panera Bread reported per share earnings of 1.78 for the quarter. Analysts expected to see revenues of $696.4 million on adjusted earnings per share of 1.74.
“Our strong Q2 results reinforce the fact that our strategy is working and our initiatives are performing. Panera is becoming a better competitive alternative with expanded runways for growth," said Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich. "At a time when other restaurant companies are feeling the impact of a slowing consumer environment, we are maintaining our momentum. Most importantly, as our initiatives rollout, we can, with the benefit of significantly more robust and mature data, now more clearly see the potential that those initiatives represent for sustained earnings growth at Panera."
Also on Tuesday, Panera Bread announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell 12 company-owned cafes in Canada to a domestic franchisee. The company anticipates that the transaction will be completed by the end of the third quarter. In early-May, Panera Bread completed the sale of 15 cafes in the Portland area to an existing franchisee.
Moving forward, Panera Bread expects to achieve full-year EPS of 6.60-6.70 in 2016, up from its previous guidance of 6.50-6.70. Panera also reiterated annual sales growth of 4-5% among its company-owned locations.
Shares in Panera Bread added 7.89 or 3.80% to 215.50 in after-hours.