In a release dated May 11th, the Wendy’s Company (WEN) reported results for the 1st quarter ended April 3rd 2022.

For the period, the company earned $37.4 million on total revenue of $488.6 million with a diluted EPS of $0.17.  Comparable figures for Q1 of fiscal 2021 were net income of $41.4 million on total revenue of $460.2 million with a diluted EPS of $0.18.

In commenting on results, Todd Penegor, president and CEO stated, "We continue to make meaningful progress against our three strategic growth pillars, reinforcing the strength and resiliency of the Wendy's® brand and driving robust sales increases," He added "We had one of our best quarters in our history for unit growth, with over 90 new restaurant openings, and are on track to reach our planned net unit growth goal of 5 to 6 percent for the year. We also competed well with Global same-restaurant sales up double digits once again on a two-year basis and increased our Global digital sales mix to over ten percent. We are well positioned to win in this volatile environment, with strong franchisee alignment behind our strategies, and have strengthened our balance sheet with the successful debt raise transaction we recently completed”.

For the 1st quarter of 2022, Wendy’s posted system wide sales growth for the U.S. at 1.1 percent compared by sales growth for the international segment of 19.2 with global sales growth of 4.2 percent.  U.S. same-restaurant sales growth was 1.1 percent compared to 13.5 percent for Q1 of 2021 post-COVID.

Guidance for 2022 included sales growth of 6 to 8 percent with an adjusted EPS of $0.82 to $0.86.

Wendy’s Company had a market capitalization of $3,970 million.  Total assets on April 3rd amounted to $5,563 million of which 36.8 percent was represented by goodwill and intangibles.  Long-term debt and lease obligation were $4,231 million.  WEN has traded in a 52-week range of $15.77 to $29.46 with a 50-day moving average of $20.94.  WEN trades with a forward P/E ratio of 22.1.  The 12-month trailing operating margin is 22.1 percent and profit margin 13.1 percent.  The company has posted a return on assets of 4.1 percent and 40.7 percent on equity.  Prior to release WEN closed on May 10th at $18.09 but opened post-release down 11.5 percent on May 11th at $16.00.