Panera Bread Raises Q4 & FY16 Non-GAAP EPS Target; Q3 Comps. Up 3.4%

(RTTNews) - Panera Bread Company (PNRA) raised its fiscal fourth-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share target. The company is now targeting non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.96 to $2.01. Panera Bread is setting a target for Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales growth of 3.5% to 4.0%. The company also announced that Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales in the first 27 days of fourth-quarter were up 3.4% and were up 6.8% on a two-year basis.

Panera Bread Company raised its fiscal 2016 non-GAAP earnings per share target. The company is now targeting fiscal 2016 non-GAAP earnings per share of $6.67 to $6.72. The company reiterated its targeted range for fiscal 2016 Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales growth of 4.0% to 5.0%.

Third-quarter non-GAAP EPS was $1.37 compared to $1.32, prior year, up 4%. Company-owned comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 3.4%, franchise-operated comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 0.2%, and system-wide comparable net bakery-cafe sales increased 1.7% compared to the same period in fiscal 2015.