Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.  (NYSE: CMG)

When Chipotle Mexican Grill reported their first quarter earnings after the market closed on Wednesday April 25th, 2018, investors and traders were caught by surprise. Not only did the famous health food fast food restaurant beat earnings, but they blew them away and also showed large percentage increases in revenues, comp store sales and number of new restaurants opened. Revenues came in at $1.1 billion dollars- which is a 7.4% increase from the quarter 1 year ago.

Earnings per share jumped 33%, coming in at $2.13 per share versus $1.60 in the year-ago period. While the company closed only two restaurants in the quarter, they opened a whopping 35 new ones.

These impressive numbers combined with a short float interest of 13% may set  shares to trade even higher when they open for active trading at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Shares closed the regular trading session up $6.42 closing at $339.52. However, in the after hours session, shares soared +10.7% closing up $36.45 at $375.97.

Company Comments

Brian Niccol, chief executive officer had this to say to investors:

“Chipotle is a purpose driven brand with loyal customers, passionate employees, industry-leading economic potential, along with incredible brand equity, and craveable food with integrity, all built over the last 25 years. While the company made notable progress during the quarter, I firmly believe we can accelerate that progress in the future.  We are in the process of forming a path to greater performance in sales, transactions, margins and new restaurants. This path to performance will be grounded in a strategy of executing the fundamentals while introducing consumer-meaningful innovation across the business. It will also require a structure and organization built for creativity, action and accountability.  Finally, Chipotle will have a culture that is centered on running great restaurants, putting the customer first, innovating for today and tomorrow, supporting each other, and delivering on commitments. The future will be meaningful at Chipotle.”

The Charts

(Click on image to enlarge)

The above price chart shows Chipotle on the daily time frame going back to July of last year. Note the red horizontal major resistance level which will now be taken out when trading opens on Thursday morning. Many times these areas of major resistance then turn into major support for the share price. Time will tell if that is the case here.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The above price chart shows CMG during the regular trading session on the left and the after-hours session on the right. It is easy to see when the earnings announcement was made public, and she has a rocket it higher. It will be interesting to see how shares trade during the day as there is a huge short interest.

Company Profile

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. As of December 31, 2017, it operated 2,363 Chipotle restaurants throughout the United States, as well as 37 international Chipotle restaurants; and 8 non-Chipotle restaurants. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Denver, Colorado. -YahooFinance