Panera Falls After Missing Q1 Estimates

Wall Street darling Panera Bread

released its fiscal first-quarter earnings results after the closing bell. Panera has been a top secular growth story in recent years and the stock was trading near all-time highs heading into the company's quarterly results. After missing expectations, however, shares were around 7 percent lower in Tuesday's after hours session. The St. Louis-based company reported net income of $48.1 million or $1.64 per share, compared to $41.2 million or $1.40 per share, in last year's corresponding quarter. This missed analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $1.65 by a penny. Sales for the quarter were up 13 percent to $561.78 million versus $498.58 million last year. This also came up shy of sales expectations of $566.30 million for the fiscal first-quarter. Panera also provided guidance for the current quarter as well as the full-year. For the second-quarter, Panera sees earnings per share of $1.74 to $1.78. This is on the low-end of current street consensus EPS estimates of $1.78. For the full-year, the company reiterated its previous view calling for earnings per share growth of 17 percent to 19 percent on a year over year basis.