Denny’s Stock Slides To One-Year Low On Q4 Earnings Miss, But Retail’s Extremely Bullish

Denny’s expects share repurchases between $15 million and $25 million this year.

Shares of Denny’s Corp ($DENN) fell more than 23% on Wednesday after the restaurant chain's Q4 earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates, but retail sentiment remained optimistic.

Denny’s Q4 earnings per share of $0.14 came below consensus estimates of $0.15, while revenues stood at $114.67 million, missing estimates of$116.04 million.

Company restaurant sales for Q4 stood at $52.4 million compared to $54.0 million for the prior year quarter, primarily driven by six fewer Denny's equivalent units, including three refranchised units.

"We are proud of our progress through 2024, culminating in strong performances from both Denny's and Keke's, which outperformed their respective BBI Family Dining indices in the fourth quarter,”  said Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny’s. “Looking ahead to 2025, there is still work to be done within our brands, particularly as we navigate near-term consumer sentiment that has been affected by macroeconomic factors.”

For 2025, Denny's expects domestic system-wide same-restaurant sales between negative 2.0% and 1.0%.

Denny’s plans to invest in its brands and reduce costs as it moves forward this year, Valade added. It invested $10.9 million in capital expenditures during the current quarter, and $28.6 million on the full year, including Keke's new cafe development and company remodels at both brands.

Sentiment on Stocktwits turned ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bearish’ last week. Message volumes rose to ‘extremely high’ zone from ‘low.’

One Stocktwits user was excited about the price dip.

Denny's has 1,568 restaurants, 1,493 of which are franchised and licensed restaurants and 75 of which were company operated.

Denny’s stock is down 15.4% year-to-date.

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