U.S. stocks were in positive territory on Tuesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee start. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.60% at 26,069, the S&P 500 index gained 0.51% at 2,847, andthe Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 0.49% at 7,752.
Shares of Del Taco Restaurants Inc. (TACO, Financial) fell about 9% on Tuesday after the company announced fourth-quarter results. Revenue grew 7.3% from the prior-year quarter to $157.29 million, beating estimates by $28,000. The company reported earnings of 18 cents per share and fell short analysts’ expectations by 1 cent.
“We achieved our sixth consecutive year of system-wide comparable restaurant sales growth in 2018. This was led by strong franchise comparable restaurant sales growth across a diverse 13 state footprint that supports Del Taco’s brand portability, including 25 new system-wide openings across ten states during 2018 of which nearly half were franchised restaurants”, John Cappasola, the company's president and CEO, said.
In the trimester, the Restaurant segment margin increased 40 basis points to 20.3%, higher than 19.9% in the same quarter 2017. Adjusted Ebitda increased to $23.6 million from $23.3 million in the comparable quarter of 2017.
Moreover, the company repurchased 765,209 shares of common stock at an average price of $11.05 per share and repurchased 20,596 warrants at an average price per warrant of $1.93, for a total of $8.5 million.
Looking ahead to 2019, the company expects total revenue in the range of $517 million to $527 million, with company restaurant sales between $481 million and $491 million. It also projects adjusted Ebitda between $66.5 million and $69.0 million.
Gainers
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial)
• NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA, Financial)
• Ford Motor Co. (F, Financial)
• MGM Resorts International (MGM, Financial)
• L Brands Inc. (LB, Financial)
• Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial)
Losers
• Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST, Financial)
• Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA, Financial)
• Electronic Arts Inc. (EA, Financial)
• Assurant Inc. (AIZ, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.41%, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.30%, Germany's Dax lost 1.19% and Spain's Ibex 35 jumped 0.89%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.08%, India’s BSE Sensex advanced 0.70%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.19% and China's Shanghai Composite closed down 0.18%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
