Investing.com -- Shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) were relatively flat in after-hours trading, after the Denver-based Mexican chain restaurant posted significant revenue and earnings gains over the second quarter, but slightly missed consensus expectations from analysts.
During the restaurant's second quarter of 2015 which ended in late-June, Chipotle increased revenues by 14% to $1.2 billion. Analysts expected revenues to spike by 16% for the period to $1.22 billion. Chipotle's food costs for the period fell by 33.1% amid increased menu prices and lower dairy and avocado costs. As a result, the chain reported earnings of $140.2 million or 4.45 a share, above earnings of $110.3 million or 3.50 a share from the second quarter in 2014.
The growth was driven by a 4.3% increase in comparable store sales, as well as the opening of 48 new restaurants during the quarter.
“We feel good about our second quarter results, as our revenue, average restaurant sales, and comparable restaurant sales have continued to grow even comparing to a very strong 2014," Chipotle CEO Steve Ellis said in a statement. "The strength of our business is the product of our unique food culture and unique people culture, and we constantly find ways to improve, and overcome challenges we encounter – whether that means non-GMO ingredients, adding new pork suppliers to ensure food with integrity, or reinventing the way tortillas are made at scale. Our relentless focus on the key drivers of our business allows us to continue to change the way people think about and eat fast food,”
In addition, Chipotle said its restaurant level operating margin rose to 28.0%, driven by favorable sales leverage, which was partially offset by increased labor costs as a percent of revenue. The company's general and administrative expenses stood at 5.9%, a decrease of 120 basis points from the previous quarter due to lower non-cash stock based compensation expenses.
Chipotle officials also said in a conference call that carnitas pork will return to all of its restaurants in the fourth quarter, after it inked a deal with a new pork supplier earlier this month. Chipotle experienced a pork shortage in January after the restaurant pulled a supplier for not meeting its standards of providing "responsibly raised pork." At the time, roughly a third of its restaurants stopped selling carnitas.
Shares in Chipotle dropped approximately 6% in after-hours trading to $633 following the release, before paring most of the losses shortly after. More than two hours after Tuesday's close, Chipotle shares were down 0.74 or 0.11% to 672.00.