(Reuters) -Wendy’s Co missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly U.S. same-store sales growth on Wednesday, as Americans reined in their spending at fast-food restaurants in the face of higher prices of everyday essentials.
The hamburger chain’s U.S. same-store sales rose 2.3% in the second quarter, compared with estimates for a 2.78% increase, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Lower-income Americans are avoiding discretionary purchases due to decades-high inflation. Keeping that in mind, many restaurants including bellwether McDonald’s Corp are now pondering introducing lower-priced foods to maintain sales.
Wendy’s, helped by a decline in general and administrative expenses, expects full-year adjusted earnings per share between 84 cents and 88 cents, compared with its previous range of 82 cents to 86 cents.
Analysts on average expect 83 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)