Noodles & Company reports Q4 adjusted EPS (7c), consensus (1c)

Reports Q4 revenue $124.32M, consensus $125.33M. Comparable restaurant sales decreased 4.2%. Drew Madsen, CEO of Noodles & Company, remarked, “Despite our recent challenges, we believe Noodles is a differentiated brand with an opportunity to be a robust business going forward. We are focused on five strategic priorities to capture this opportunity. Our first area of focus is strengthening operational excellence, with an increased focus on the dimensions of our guest experience that correlate most strongly with traffic growth. Second, a multi-phase menu transformation to stimulate increased guest desire that reflects our new culinary identity of “contemporary comfort kitchen.” Third, building a long-term strategy for growing our catering business. Fourth, leveraging our digital capabilities including our new digital menu boards, customer data platform, the Noodles app and the rewards program to grow our guest base and deliver personalized, targeted marketing. Finally, fortifying our financial position by reducing capital expenditures, slowing new unit growth, researching lower cost restaurant prototypes and capturing increased efficiencies across the business. We believe that focusing on these priorities will allow the brand to resonate with our guests and lead to sustainable long-term, top-line momentum and profitable growth.”