The Wendy's Company NASDAQ: WEN fast food hamburgery

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Wendy's boosts sales forecast, bets on revamped breakfast menu

(Reuters) -Wendy's Co beat estimates for quarterly results and raised its forecast for annual sales on Wednesday, betting on its revamped breakfast menu to attract more customers after the easing of pandemic-related dining restrictions.

Shares in the company, which increased its quarterly cash dividend by 20% to 12 cents per share, rose more than 3% in premarket trade.

Reduced restrictions on travel and restaurant capacity and reopening of offices have also boosted sales at other major U.S. restaurant chains, including McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD), Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG).

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) benefited from the breakfast menu it launched last year as well, which includes the crowd-favorite Baconator burger. The hamburger chain will boost its annual advertising spend by $10 million as it looks to draw more customers to its breakfast offering.

Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's also said restaurant services provider Reef Kitchens would open and run 700 delivery kitchens, over the next five years, that will offer Wendy's products across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom following a pilot in Canada.

The move comes at a time when most major U.S. fast-food restaurants have been doubling down on their digital business as people shifted to online ordering during the health crisis.

Wendy's forecast global system-wide sales growth between 11% and 13% in 2021, compared with its previous range of 8% to 10%. It also raised its earnings per share forecast to between 79 cents and 81 cents from 72 cents to 74 cents.

U.S. same-store sales for the second quarter ended July 4 rose 16.1%, above estimates of 15.3%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Excluding items, the company earned 27 cents per share, compared with estimates of 18 cents.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... es-2586594

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Wendy´s hikes dividend by another 20 percent to $0.12 quarterly. This is the third dividend increase announced by $WEN in 2021 and brings the dividend back to the same level as before the COVID cut.

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McDonald's Adds a New Burger to Its Menu And It Looks Awfully Familiar
The fast-food giant has a new burger that seems to borrow a lot from Wendy's.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/mcd ... -tradition

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Wendy's (WEN) shares dropped 2.5% after the fast-food restaurant chain beat earnings estimates and boosted its full-year earnings estimates. However, it missed Wall Street sales estimates.

Latest Release
Aug 10, 2022

EPS / Forecast
0.24 / 0.2232

Revenue / Forecast
537.78M / 539.22M

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) shares fell over 3% in early Wednesday trading after the company reported earnings before the opening bell, topping earnings estimates but missing revenue expectations.

The fast food chain reported second quarter earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.02 above the consensus estimate of $0.22. However, revenue for the quarter came in at $537.8 million, below the consensus estimate of $539.22 million.

Wendy's U.S. same-store sales increased 2.3% in the quarter, also missing analyst estimates of a 2.8% rise as inflation hits consumer wallets.

"Our business continued to outperform the competition and our franchisees are operating from a position of strength after achieving record profits across the US and Canada in 2021," said Wendy's President and Chief Executive Officer Todd Penegor.

Wendy's sees full-year 2022 earnings per share between $0.84 and $0.88, versus the consensus of $0.83, with global systemwide sales growth between 6% and 8%.

Reacting to the report, a Goldman Sachs analyst in a note to clients, stated: "We expect WEN to underperform today on the lower US SSS trends, margin miss, and lower than expected global unit growth."

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Wendy's on Friday reported a fourth-straight quarter of accelerating sales growth, doubled its dividend and announced a $500 million buyback.

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Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) shares gained nearly 6% on Friday after the company hiked its quarterly dividend by 100% to $0.25 per share, or $1 annualized, for an annual yield of 4.6%. The dividend will be payable on March 15, 2023, to stockholders of record on March 1, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of February 28, 2023. The company also announced a new share repurchase program of $500 million and reported strong preliminary Q4 and FY22 results.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... ut-2981747

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Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) shares jumped Wednesday following its second-quarter earnings release, which saw it top profit expectations.

The fast food chain reported earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $0.27, while revenue for the quarter came in at $561.57 million, up 4.4% YoY but below the consensus estimate of $566.37 million.

The YoY revenue increase was put down to higher sales at company-operated restaurants, an increase in franchise royalty revenue, and an increase in advertising funds revenue.

Wendy's shares are currently up 1.8% at $22.12 per share.

"I am proud of the entire Wendy's® system for delivering another quarter of meaningful sales and profit growth alongside sustained progress against our strategic growth pillars," President and Chief Executive Officer Todd Penegor said.

"We continued to drive significant profit expansion, supported by strong same-restaurant sales momentum, resulting in an over 200 basis point year-over-year increase in U.S. Company-operated restaurant margin."

Global systemwide sales growth in the quarter was 6.9%, with international systemwide sales growth a driving factor, climbing 12.7%. For the U.S., it was 6.1%.

Looking ahead, Wendy's sees full-year earnings per share between $0.95 and $1, versus the consensus of $0.98. Global systemwide sales growth is seen from 6% to 8%.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) and Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) have defeated a lawsuit accusing them of deceiving hungry diners by exaggerating the size of their burgers.

In a decision on Saturday, U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez in Brooklyn found no proof that the fast-food chains delivered smaller burgers than advertised, or that the plaintiff Justin Chimienti had even seen ads for the McDonald's Big Mac and Wendy's Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger he bought.

Chimienti, a resident of Long Island's Suffolk County, said McDonald's and Wendy's ads depicted undercooked beef patties because meat shrinks 25% when cooked.

The complaint quoted a food stylist who said she had worked for McDonald's and Wendy's, and preferred undercooked patties because fully-cooked burgers looked "less appetizing." Chimienti said Wendy's also inflated the amount of toppings it uses.

In a 19-page decision, Gonzalez said the chains' efforts to made their burgers look appetizing was "no different than other companies' use of visually appealing images to foster positive associations with their products."

He said McDonald's and Wendy's were not legally obligated to sell burgers by advertising them, and that their websites provided "prominent, objective information" about the burgers' weight and caloric content.

Gonzalez also said it is not misleading to depict fewer toppings than the plaintiff's "personally preferred amount."

Lawyers for Chimienti did not immediately respond on Monday to requests for comment. McDonald's, Wendy's and their lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.

On Aug. 29, a federal judge in Miami said Burger King, a unit of Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR), must defend against a similar lawsuit over how it depicts Whopper sandwiches on in-store menu boards. He dismissed claims based on ads.

Taco Bell, a unit of Yum Brands, is defending against a lawsuit in the Brooklyn court claiming it sold Crunchwraps and Mexican pizzas that contained half as much filling as advertised.

The case is Chimienti v Wendy's International LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 22-02880.