Papa John's International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) stock is soaring 5.71% in pre-market trading on Thursday, following the release of its first-quarter 2025 financial results that surpassed analyst expectations. The pizza chain demonstrated resilience in a challenging market environment, reporting better-than-anticipated earnings and revenue figures.

For the first quarter of 2025, Papa John's posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.36, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $0.35 by 2.86%. While this represents a 46.27% decrease from the $0.67 per share reported in the same period last year, investors appear to be focusing on the earnings beat. The company's revenue also impressed, coming in at $518.31 million, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $513.55 million by 0.93%. This marks a modest 0.85% increase over sales of $513.92 million in the same quarter of the previous year.

Despite the year-over-year earnings decline, Papa John's management expressed confidence in the company's outlook by reiterating its 2025 annual guidance. This move suggests that the company anticipates continued growth and operational improvements throughout the year, which likely contributed to the positive investor sentiment reflected in the pre-market stock surge. The combination of better-than-expected quarterly results and a positive outlook for the full year appears to be driving the stock's significant pre-market rally.