{"id":6754,"date":"2015-02-18T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T21:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=6754"},"modified":"2015-02-19T09:01:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T15:01:14","slug":"potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alysha Khan<\/p>\n

Potbelly Corp. stock jumped 12.85 percent to $16<\/a> \u2013 the highest since June \u2013 after the company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter, beating analyst expectations.<\/p>\n

Sharon Zackfia, equity research analyst at William Blair<\/a>, maintained an outperform rating for the stock, stating in a research note that the company \u201cstill represents a near 40 percent discount to its peer group,\u201d even after the surge in price.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Chicago-based company<\/a> earned $0.7 million attributable to common stockholders, or 2 cents per diluted share, in the fourth quarter ended December 28<\/a>, compared with a loss of $53.5 million, or $1.93 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.<\/p>\n

\n

Related stories<\/h1>\n

Potbelly insiders sold stock as price fell<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected an adjusted EPS of 34 cents and Potbelly reported an adjusted EPS of 6 cents, beating the expectations. The restaurant chain adjusted income for the costs of store closures, moving the corporate headquarters, impairment, and the initial public offering in October 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, analyst expected GAAP 3.5 cents per diluted share and Potbelly\u2019s reported GAAP EPS was 2 cents.<\/p>\n

Revenues rose 13.4 percent to $84.8 million from $74.8 million in the year-earlier quarter.<\/p>\n

\"Potbelly<\/a>
Potbelly Corp. stock jumped to its highest price since June after the company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter, beating analyst expectations. (Alysha Khan\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sales at locations open more than 12 months rose 3.7 percent compared with 0.7 percent in the year-earlier quarter. Zackfia wrote that part of this improvement was driven by a milder winter this year compared with last year.<\/p>\n

Comparable-store sales for all of 2014 rose 0.1 percent compared with 1.5 percent in the prior year. Potbelly owns more than 300 locations in the U.S.<\/a> and its franchisees operate more than 20 in the U.S. and the Middle East. It opened 46 in 2014.<\/p>\n

Despite several rocky prior quarters, Charles Talbot, chief financial officer, forecasted continuing growth on a conference call with analysts. For 2015, the chain projected opening 48 to 55 new locations and a low-single-digit comparable stores sales growth.<\/p>\n

Talbot argued that the current economic environment was \u201cfavorable\u201d to customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnemployment rates are low,\u201d Talbot said. \u201cConsumer confidence is up and more recently easing gas prices certainly mean more disposable income.\u201d<\/p>\n

That disposable income, Talbot said, translates to potentially higher sales. For 2015, the chain forecasted a 20 percent increase in adjusted earnings.<\/p>\n

For the full year 2014, Potbelly reported earnings of $4.35 million, or 14 cents per diluted share, compared with a year-prior loss of $63.7 million, or $6.29 per share. Revenue increased to $327 million from $299.7 million.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Potbelly Corp. officials projected opening 48 to 55 new locations in 2015 (Christopher Walljasper\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alysha Khan Potbelly Corp. stock jumped 12.85 percent to $16 \u2013 the highest since June \u2013 after the company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter, beating analyst expectations. Sharon Zackfia, equity research analyst at William Blair, maintained an outperform rating for the stock, stating in a research note that the company \u201cstill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":7037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nPotbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alysha Khan Potbelly Corp. stock jumped 12.85 percent to $16 \u2013 the highest since June \u2013 after the company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter, beating analyst expectations. Sharon Zackfia, equity research analyst at William Blair, maintained an outperform rating for the stock, stating in a research note that the company \u201cstill […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-18T21:45:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-19T15:01:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alyshakhan1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alyshakhan1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/\",\"name\":\"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-18T21:45:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-19T15:01:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2b4095ebe32cb8850ab1ffcb412c62\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2b4095ebe32cb8850ab1ffcb412c62\",\"name\":\"alyshakhan1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5cac1446ec2b17a22a2110751c53f8c051c1e8bc1b5f72e1d3c0704059f01cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5cac1446ec2b17a22a2110751c53f8c051c1e8bc1b5f72e1d3c0704059f01cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"alyshakhan1\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alyshakhan1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Alysha Khan Potbelly Corp. stock jumped 12.85 percent to $16 \u2013 the highest since June \u2013 after the company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter, beating analyst expectations. Sharon Zackfia, equity research analyst at William Blair, maintained an outperform rating for the stock, stating in a research note that the company \u201cstill […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-02-18T21:45:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-19T15:01:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alyshakhan1","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alyshakhan1","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/","name":"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-18T21:45:20+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-19T15:01:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2b4095ebe32cb8850ab1ffcb412c62"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/DSC_0291.jpg","width":1100,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/potbelly-corp-stock-rises-after-profitable-quarter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Potbelly Corp. stock rises after profitable quarter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/1f2b4095ebe32cb8850ab1ffcb412c62","name":"alyshakhan1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5cac1446ec2b17a22a2110751c53f8c051c1e8bc1b5f72e1d3c0704059f01cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c5cac1446ec2b17a22a2110751c53f8c051c1e8bc1b5f72e1d3c0704059f01cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"alyshakhan1"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alyshakhan1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}