What Happened?
Shares of restaurant company Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ: BLMN) fell 19% in the morning session after the company posted weak fourth-quarter 2024 results, with sales dropping sharply from the prior year and falling short of Wall Street's expectations. Lower same restaurant sales and the lack of an extra operating week hurt revenue. Profit margins shrank due to rising labor and food costs, higher ad spending, and weaker customer traffic at key brands like Outback Steakhouse and Bonefish Grill. These pressures led to an earnings shortfall.
Looking ahead, the company issued weak full-year 2025 guidance, forecasting adjusted EPS significantly below analysts' expectations. Revenue is also projected to decline, with U.S. comparable restaurant sales expected to range from a 2% decline to flat growth. Overall, the results offered few positives, as weaker margins, disappointing sales trends, and lackluster guidance signal a difficult road ahead.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Bloomin' Brands’s shares are quite volatile and have had 19 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Bloomin' Brands and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
Bloomin' Brands is down 17.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $9.82 per share, it is trading 67% below its 52-week high of $29.72 from March 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Bloomin' Brands’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $506.92.
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