Wingstop (WING) Q1 Earnings Report Preview: What To Look For

Fast-food chain Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before market hours. Here's what you need to know.

Wingstop beat analysts' revenue expectations by 5.7% last quarter, reporting revenues of $127.1 million, up 21.2% year on year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' gross margin estimates and a decent beat of analysts' earnings estimates.

Is Wingstop a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Wingstop's revenue to grow 25.1% year on year to $136 million, slowing from the 42.7% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.77 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Wingstop has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates twice over the last two years.

Looking at Wingstop's peers in the restaurants segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Chipotle delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 14.1%, beating analysts' expectations by 1.2%, and Darden reported revenues up 6.8%, falling short of estimates by 1.7%. Chipotle traded up 4.1% following the results while Darden was down 4.9%.

Read our full analysis of Chipotle's results here and Darden's results here.

Growth stocks have seen elevated volatility as investors debate the Fed's monetary policy, and while some of the restaurants stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 4.2% on average over the last month. Wingstop is up 5.5% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $342.8 (compared to the current share price of $387.99).

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