Wendy's withdrew its guidance and cut its dividend, as it works to return to sales growth at its U.S. restaurants.

"Today we are clearly not performing at our potential," said Chief Executive Bob Wright, who returned to the fast-food chain in May to oversee its turnaround.

Wright said the company's traffic, value proposition and franchisee economics aren't currently meeting expectations. In an effort to boost sales, the company will rebuild its menu to offer more compelling value and step up its marketing efforts, while also investing in operations, digital capabilities and its restaurants, he added.

To help fund these initiatives, Wendy's slashed its quarterly cash dividend to 7 cents a share, from 14 cents a share.

The new dividend, equal to 28 cents a year, represents an annual yield of about 3.8%, based on Thursday's closing price of $7.39. It will be paid Sept. 15 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 1, the company said.

Wendy's also withdrew its outlook for the year, saying its new management needs time to fully assess the business opportunities and formulate a comprehensive turnaround plan.

The updates came as Wendy's recorded a 7% drop in same-restaurant sales in the U.S., which drove a 6.5% decrease in overall systemwide sales. Analysts were expecting a 4.7% decline in overall same-restaurant sales.

For its three months ended June 28, Wendy's posted net income of $55.1 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with $32.6 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, earnings were 18 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 16 cents a share.

Revenue ebbed 1.7% to $560.9 million, coming in ahead of Wall Street models for $557.1 million.