Chipotle Q3 Profit Misses Views

reported downbeat earnings for the third quarter. The Denver, Colorado-based company reported quarterly net income of $144.9 million, or $4.59 per share, versus $130.8 million, or $4.15 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its revenue climbed 12.2 percent to $1.2 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $4.63 per share on revenue of $1.22 billion. The average estimate among 210 Estimize users was for earnings of $4.65 per share and revenue of $1.22 billion. Comparable restaurant sales surged 2.6 percent for the quarter. Restaurant level operating margin shrank 50 basis points to 28.3 percent in the quarter. Food costs shrank to 33 percent of revenue in the latest quarter, compared to 34.3 percent in the year-earlier quarter. Chipotle opened 53 new restaurants during the recent quarter. "Chipotle's third quarter results demonstrate the continued success of our vision to change the way people think about and eat fast food. As we have grown our restaurants through the year, we are able to push our standards higher in what we can accomplish with our food culture. We have currently returned carnitas to 90% of our restaurants, and will look to bring it back to 100% of restaurants during the fourth quarter," said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle. Chipotle raised its FY15 store openings guidance to 215-225 new restaurants, versus prior forecast of 190-205 openings. For FY16, the company expects 220 to 235 new restaurant openings. Chipotle shares fell 1.40 percent to $696.99 in the after-hours trading session.