Shares of Wendy’s Co. WEN rose 1.8% in premarket trading Wednesday after the fast-casual burger chain reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that was above preliminary guidance and revenue that was in line. Net income fell to $41.3 million, or 19 cents a share, from $52.1 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 22 cents from 16 cents. In the company’s preliminary results reported in January, FactSet had EPS of 21 cents beating the average analyst estimate of 20 cents. Revenue rose 13.4% to $536.5 million, which is what the company reported in January. For 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS of 95 cents to $1.00, compared with the current FactSet consensus of $1.00, and systemwide sales growth of 6% to 8%, while the current FactSet consensus of $2.18 billion implies 4.0% growth. The stock has slipped 3.2% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has lost 2.6%.
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