Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is having an amazing run despite of the sluggish restaurant industry. The stock reached $700 mark for the first time indicating an amazing third quarter for the company.
S&P’s 500 Restaurants Index has declined by 0.4% in 2014 and during the same period, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) has managed to improve its stock price by 28%. According to a Cleveland Research Co. analyst, Steven Gojak, several factors have helped the company improve its quarterly sales by 19 to 20 percent. It includes increase in prices, higher foot traffic, and efforts towards the catering sector. He further added,
“Traffic trends have held fairly steady so far in the third quarter and we do not believe there has been any meaningful pushback on the company’s recent menu price increase.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) has 1,680 restaurant in the United States and it has increased its menu price by 6.5% because of the higher cost of raw items. However, this has not stopped the restaurant chain from receiving more customers. It is a favorite option of younger customers looking for healthier eating options and the meal-customization feature has improved customer experience. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) might even record a growth of 15 percent for this quarter, as per Bloomberg sources.
Earlier, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) reported its second quarter 2014 financial results on July 21, 2014 with revenue of $1.05 billion, an increase of 28.6%. It recorded a net income of $110.3 million with a 25.5% growth. Chipotle reported diluted EPS of $3.50 and an increase of 17.3% in comparable restaurant sales. The company added 45 new restaurants within this quarter.
This article has been written by Prakash Pandey.
