* Q1 adj EPS $1.36 vs Street view $1.26
* Strikes deal to sell 39 Applebee’s restaurants
* Shares up almost 9 percent
(Adds details and background, analyst comment, share moves)
May 1 (Reuters) – Applebee’s and IHOP restaurant parent
DineEquity Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly
profit and said it had struck a deal to sell 39 company-owned
Applebee’s restaurants in Virginia, sending its shares up almost
9 percent.
The results from DineEquity landed on a day when news of
investments in the restaurant sector overshadowed a mixed bag of
quarterly results from a handful of large operators.
In particular, shares of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
soared 30 percent after it announced plans to sell itself to
Centerbridge Partners, a private equity firm, for $1.1
billion.
P.F. Chang’s also reported a quarterly profit that missed
analysts’ target after sales at established Bistro and Pei Wei
restaurants fell due to fewer guest visits.
At DineEquity, first-quarter net income rose 6.5 percent to
$29.9 million, or $1.64 per share. Excluding one-time items,
profit was $1.36 per share, handily topping analysts’ average
estimate of $1.26, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Systemwide sales at established U.S. restaurants were up 1.2
percent at Applebee’s but fell 0.5 percent at IHOP on traffic
declines.
Shares of DineEquity jumped 8.7 percent to $52.79 in
afternoon trading.
Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski, in a client
note, attributed the stock move to Potomac Family Dining Group’s
plan to buy the 39 Applebee’s restaurants in a deal expected to
result in after-tax proceeds of $25 million for DineEquity.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Domino’s Pizza Inc shares fell
6.7 percent to $34.29 after it delivered quarterly profit that
missed Wall Street’s view, due in part to softer-than-expected
sales at established U.S. restaurants.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertleinn in Los Angeles and Ranjita
Ganesan in Bangalore; editing by John Wallace)
