Sushi fans likely enjoy an occasional trip to Kura Sushi (NASDAQ:KRUS). If there’s one in the area, that is. However, investors were less than happy with Kura Sushi today, as it plunged throughout most of the Friday trading day.
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The biggest problem for Kura Sushi was its earnings report. Kura Sushi posted a loss of $0.18 per share, which missed analysts’ estimates of -$0.16 per share. It also delivered disappointing revenue figures as well, posting just $39.3 million. This also proved a miss for the company. One of the major culprits behind the losses was an increase in costs as a percentage of sales. While comparable restaurant sales were up a healthy 6.9%, they simply couldn’t keep pace with the rising costs of literally everything else.
Nevertheless, Kura Sushi isn’t taking those price hikes lying down. It recently started offering a domestically-farmed fish known as “Ai Sumagatsuo,” otherwise known as “eastern little tuna” or “mackerel tuna.” It’s the third farmed species available on Kura Sushi’s menu, though it was only available in Japanese locations between December 2 and December 15. Using domestically-farmed fish, Kura Sushi notes, will help stabilize its purchasing costs and keep its supply stable as well.
While Kura Sushi eyes ways to recover, there’s one sector that’s less than pleased so far: hedge funds. Hedge funds recently turned Negative on Kura Sushi stock, dropping their holdings by 29,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge fund positions, in general, have been volatile for Kura Sushi, especially given that they added to their positions each of the three quarters preceding the latest drop.
