Wall Street Shrugs At Del Frisco's Q3 Miss, Cut Guidance

Shares of Del Frisco's Restaurant Group Inc DFRG traded up 3.82 percent on Friday, even though the company reported Q3 results that failed to meet expectations.

EPS of $0.04 missed the Street’s consensus by $0.01, while revenue of $71.41 million fell $1.74 million short of expectations on a 3 percent tumble in comparable restaurant sales. Management trimmed its full year EPS guidance from $0.83-$0.86 to $0.79-$0.81 – consensus stood at $0.83.

Despite the poor results, Stephens analysts Will Slabaugh and Billy Sherrill reiterated an Overweight rating and $18.00 price target on shares.

On the bright side, the company said that the first five weeks of the seasonally robust Q4 had seen positive same store sales, and that they thus expect them to be positive for the full quarter.

“Encouragingly, margins at the Grille appear to be moving in the right direction (operating expenses down -70 bps YOY), even in light of declining SSS,” Stephens’ report concluded.