Wednesday May 8, 2019, 00:00:00
WEN (Post-Call) A Biggie Bag of Q1 Earnings Upside
Earlier today, Wendy’s (WEN; Neutral) reported adjusted EPS of $0.14, surpassing our $0.11 estimate and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $0.11. Relative to our model, outperformance came from: (1) better-than-expected G&A/Revenues (12.1% actual vs. 12.7% estimated), (2) better-than-expected Cost of Sales/Sales (85.0% actual vs. 85.8% forecasted), (3) lower-than-projected Interest Expense ($29.1 million actual vs. $30.1 million projected), and (4) a somewhat more favorable tax rate than anticipated (20.0% actual vs. 22.5% forecasted). These positives were partially offset by some other factors, such as higher-than-anticipated Other Operating Expenses.
