Fiesta Restaurant Group Misses Earnings

Fiesta Restaurants (NASDAQ: FRGI) released its Q2 results after market close on Wednesday. Earnings per share came in below Wall Street consensus expectations,sending shares down 7.93 percent.Fiesta Restaurants reported EPS of $0.34 and revenues of $181.5 million. Analyst consensus had an EPS estimate of $0.4 and revenues of $183.55 million. Fiesta President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Taft commented, "Although we had a challenging first half to 2016 given industrywide softness, oil-related economic pressure affecting both brands in Texas, investment spending in new markets, and the negative impact of expected cannibalization, the second quarter was further pressured by severe rainstorms and flooding in Texas which hurt both sales and profitability.""As we look to the second half of 2016, our mission is to strengthen our sales and margin trajectory through several initiatives as we navigate a challenging consumer environment. Effective media spending to further build brand awareness is already benefiting newer media markets such as San Antonio and Nashville and we are encouraged by early traction in Atlanta, where we launched media in June. We are also moving forward with accentuating our value proposition, testing our new loyalty platforms, implementing third party delivery in select markets, and enhancing our catering capabilities at both brands," stated Taft.At the time of writing, Fiesta Restaurants traded at $20.19 in Wednesday's after-hours session.