Panera beats 4Q profit forecasts

ST. LOUIS -- Panera Bread Co. (PNRA) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $48.5 million.

On a per-share basis, the St. Louis-based company said it had profit of $1.82. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs, were $1.87 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.82 per share.

The chain of bakery-cafes posted revenue of $672.5 million in the period, missing Street forecasts. Analysts expected $675.1 million, according to Zacks.

For the year, the company reported profit of $179.3 million, or $6.64 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.53 billion.

Panera shares have risen 1 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $176.48, a rise of 1 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on PNRA at http://www.zacks.com/ap/PNRA