By Connor Hart
Inflation-weary consumers are opting out of wing night.
Shares of Wingstop fell after the company cut its full-year outlook and said same-store sales sank during the latest quarter, hurt by lower transaction volumes as consumer spending remains pressured.
The stock slumped 12%, to $152.00, shortly after Wednesday's opening bell. Shares have lost nearly a third of their value over the past year.
The restaurant chain said before the bell that it now expects a low-single-digit percent decline in domestic same-store sales this year. It had previously guided for flat to low-single-digit percent comparable sales growth.
The new outlook came as domestic same-store sales fell 8.7% during the recent quarter.
Net income for the quarter ended March 28 came in at $29.9 million, or $1.08 a share, down sharply from a profit of $92.3 million, or $3.24 a share, in last year's comparable period.
Stripping out one-time costs, earnings were $1.18 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $1.03 a share.
Total revenue climbed 7.4% to $183.7 million but missed the $187.8 million that Wall Street had modeled.
Chief Executive Michael Skipworth said Wingstop focused on enhancing unit economics for its brand partners during the latest quarter. He added that he believes the efforts will position the company to return to same-store sales growth later this year.
"We believe 2026 is going to be a transformational year for Wingstop and remain extremely confident in the long-term opportunity in front of us," he said.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2026 09:46 ET (13:46 GMT)
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