WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) on Wednesday reported a 5 percent increase in profit for the second quarter from last year on higher revenues and fewer charges.
However, both revenue and adjusted earnings per share missed analysts' expectations. In addition, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 18 percent.
The casual dining chain's net income for the second quarter was $30.05 million or $0.59 per share, up from $28.58 million or $0.52 per share in the year-ago period.
The latest quarter's results include an after-tax impact of $0.01 per share related to impairment of assets and lease terminations, compared to an after-tax impact of $0.02 per share in the year-ago period.
Adjusted net income for the quarter was $30.36 million or $0.59 per share, compared to $29.49 million or $0.54 per share in the same period last year. On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.61 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues for the quarter rose 6 percent to $496.41 million from $470.12 million in the year-ago period. Analysts expected revenue of $502.26 million for the quarter.
Comparable restaurant sales at Cheesecake Factory and Grand Lux Cafe increased 1.2 percent in the quarter, compared to an increase of 0.8 percent in the year-ago period. By concept, comparable restaurant sales grew 1.5 percent at Cheesecake Factory and declined 2.7 percent at Grand Lux Cafe.
Cheesecake Factory's board approved an increase in its quarterly dividend equating to 18 percent. The board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.165 per share on the common stock. The dividend is payable on August 19, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 6, 2014.
The company continues to expect that it will return substantially all of its free cash flow to shareholders in fiscal 2014 in the form of dividends and share repurchases.
CAKE closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $43.96, down $0.36 or 0.81 percent on a volume of 1.45 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further declined $0.56 or 1.27 percent to $43.40.
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