Bob Evans Profit Falls On Weak Sales, Margins; Cuts FY Outlook - Update

(RTTNews) - Restaurant chain Bob Evans Farms Inc (BOBE), Tuesday reported a lower fourth-quarter profit, as revenues were hit by the harsh winter weather, and operating costs escalated. While earnings for the quarter topped Wall Street estimates, revenue fell short of expectations.

Bob Evans slashed its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2015.

Bob Evans said harsh winter weather hurt Bob Evans Restaurants' sales, cost of sales, operating wages and other operating expenses.

Results were also hurt by plant start-up inefficiencies and the effect of continued high material costs at BEF Foods segment.

Columbus, Ohio-based Bob Evans posted quarterly net earnings of $13 million or $0.53 per share, compared with $29.8 million or $1.06 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.48 per share. On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the fourth quarter slid to $326 million from $333.9 million in the prior year. Analysts estimated revenues of $333.3 million for the quarter.

Sales at Bob Evans Restaurants segment were down 4.4 percent, and on a same store basis, was a negative 4.1 percent. BEF Foods' sales were up 3.4 percent.

For the first quarter, Bob Evans estimates earnings of $0.06 to $0.12 per share, while analysts currently expect $0.54 per share.

For fiscal 2015, Bob Evans now expects earnings of $1.90 to $2.20 per share, from a prior range of $2.80 to $3.00 per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of $2.56 per share for the year.

BOBE closed Tuesday at $49.78, down $0.35 or 0.70%, on a volume of 0.264 million shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock dropped $1.06 or 2.13%.