Investing.com -- Shares in The Cheesecake Factory (O:CAKE) fell mildly in after-hours trading, even as the casual dining restaurant chain reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday evening.
For The Cheesecake Factory's fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, the company reported profits of $27.2 million or 0.54 per share, up from $24.5 million or 0.48 per share during the same quarter a year earlier. Although The Cheesecake Factory saw its revenues surge by 5.4% to $526.8 million, it narrowly missed analysts' forecasts for quarterly sales of $529 million. The chain beat its own estimates of per share earnings of 0.50 to 0.53 for the three-month period.
On a positive note, The Cheesecake Factory reported comparable restaurant sales gains of 1.1%, marking the 24th straight quarter it has achieved growth in the key industry metric. The company excludes revenues from recently opened or closed restaurants from the estimate.
“We achieved a number of important milestones in 2015. We expanded our business and now operate 200 restaurants across three concepts. In addition, our international presence grew to 11 locations in operation under licensing agreements. We recorded over $2 billion in revenues for the first time, moved another step forward towards improving our operating margin, and grew adjusted earnings per share by 20%," Cheesecake Factory CEO David Overton said in a statement.
"Overall, we successfully accomplished our commitment to increasing shareholder returns in 2015 while also remaining focused on quality growth for the future."
The slight declines in Cheesecake Factory shares in after-hours may be a reflection of recent wage hikes by numerous states throughout the U.S. The company noted that the increased labor costs could force it to raise menu prices in 2016.
Shares in The Cheesecake Factory fell 0.0.87% or 1.76% to 48.50.