01:11 PM EDT, 10/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Shares of Wingstop ( WING ) plunged intraday Wednesday as the fast-food restaurant's third-quarter earnings missed forecasts while Shake Shack ( SHAK ) delivered a quarterly beat, sending the burger and milkshake chain's shares rallying.

Wingstop's ( WING ) earnings per share advanced to $0.88 for the three-month period ended Sept. 28 from $0.65 the year earlier but was shy of the $0.95 average analyst estimate for GAAP EPS on Capital IQ. Shares of Wingstop ( WING ) plummeted nearly 20% intraday.

Wingstop ( WING ) revenue rose to $162.5 million from $117.1 million year over year and topped the $159.9 million Street view. Company-owned domestic same store sales growth was 7.3%, about halving from the prior quarter's pace and shy of the analysts' 11.1% estimate. Domestic comparable sales were up 20.9% but decelerated from nearly 29% growth in the second quarter.

Top-line momentum "gives us the fuel in our advertising fund to work against a double-digit gap in brand awareness when benchmarked to more mature (quick-service restaurant) brands," Chief Financial Officer Alex Kaleida said on an analyst conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript. Wingstop ( WING ) reiterated its full-year guidance for about 20% domestic same-store sales growth.

Shake Shack's ( SHAK ) revenue rose to $316.9 million for the three-month period ended Sept. 25 from $276.2 million the year earlier and surpassed the $316.1 million consensus mean. The burger chain's adjusted EPS climbed to $0.25 in the third quarter from $0.17 the year prior and topped the $0.19 Street expectation. Shares of Shake Shack ( SHAK ) soared 12% intraday.

Same-store sales growth came in at 4.4% from the same period of 2023 and beat the 3.6% consensus. Same-store sales reflected positive traffic, "a direct result of our sales-driving strategies and our consistent differentiated premium positioning which has allowed us to continue to outperform even in an uncertain macro environment," Chief Executive Robert Lynch told analysts on a conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript.

The company implemented a roughly 1.5% menu price increase in October to help offset the effects of continued inflation, which will allow Shake Shack ( SHAK ) "maintain the approximately 6% menu price for the remainder of the year," CFO Katherine Fogertey said on the call. Next year, pricing is expected to drop to about 4.5% in the first quarter then low single digits for the full year, she said.

The company's restaurant-level profit margin came in at 21% of Shake Shack ( SHAK ) sales, 60 basis points higher than the same period last year and the highest third-quarter margin since 2019 despite "continued inflationary pressures," she said.

Price: 298.23, Change: -70.71, Percent Change: -19.17