On March 5th Ruth’s Hospitality Group (RUTH) posted results for Q4 and FY2020 ending December 27th. This company can be regarded as a bellwether for fine dining, indicating the extent of recovery of the high end of the restaurant sector.
For the quarter, the company posted net earnings of $1.4 million on sales of $77.37 million with an EPS of $0.04. This compares with Q4 of 2019, pre-COVID, with earnings of $14.46 million on revenue of $135.03 million with an EPS of $0.50. For the year, RUTH posted a loss of $25.3 million on revenue of $277.8 million with a negative EPS of $0.80. In FY2019, RUTH earned $42.2 million on revenue of $468.0 million with an EPS of $1.46. Comparative restaurant sales for FY2020 were 40.2 percent lower than in FY2019.
Cheryl Henry, President and CEO of Ruth’s Hospitality Group, commented, “2020 was truly a challenging year for our Ruth’s Chris team and our franchises. We managed through two significant shutdowns during the year, the first in late March and the other most recently during our 4th Quarter. Despite th
ese challenges I am pleased that our amazing team and franchise partners displayed resilience and agility in the face of uncertainty resulting in strong 4th Quarter results.” Henry added, “COVID has taught us flexibility and innovation which includes new operating procedures at the restaurant level as well as a more flexible labor model, better capacity utilization, and the adoption of technology.”
RUTH has a market capitalization of $859.4 million and has traded over the past 52 weeks in a range of $2.32 to $25.82 with a 50-day moving average of $20.55. Twelve-month trailing operating margin was -4.4 percent and profit margin -9.1 percent. The company achieved a return on assets of -1.5 percent and on equity -25.1 percent. Following release of Q4 results, RUTH rose 6.1 percent as earnings topped a more conserative consensus estimate.