Wendy’s beat Wall Street’s first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations on Friday, but U.S. same-restaurant sales continued to deteriorate, falling 7.8% as the company described itself as being in the early stages of a turnaround.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.12 for the quarter ended March 29
Analysts had projected $0.10 per share, according to The Wall Street Journal. Revenue rose 3.3% to $540.6 million. Analysts had forecast $518.03 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Premarket trading saw Wendy’s shares rise roughly 4.3% following the release of the results. Behind the top-line improvement were franchise fee increases connected to a system-optimization initiative, a lift in advertising funds revenue, and a bump in company-operated restaurant sales that reflected the franchise locations Wendy’s brought in-house during the third quarter of 2025, the company said. Those gains were offset by lower franchise royalty revenue.