Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (KRUS) on Q1 2021 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Kura Sushi USA, Inc. Fiscal First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode and the lines will be open for your questions following your presentation. Please note that this conference is being recorded today, January 11, 2021. On the call today, we have Hajime Jimmy Uba, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steven Benrubi, Chief Financial Officer; and Benjamin Porten, Investor Relation Director. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Porten. Benjamin Porten : Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining. By now, everyone should have access to our fiscal first quarter 2021 earnings release. It can be found at www.kurasushi.com in the Investor Relations section. A copy of the earnings release has also been included in an 8-K we submitted to the SEC. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Also during today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation, nor as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and the reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release. With that out of the way, I would like to turn the call over to Jimmy. Hajime Jimmy Uba : Thank you, Ben, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I would like to begin by welcoming Steve Benrubi who recently joined us as our new CFO. Steve brings to us significant experience from well-established restaurant and retail companies, including Drybar, The Wet Seal, CKE Restaurants and Domino's Pizza. He is well qualified to provide financial leadership and strategic vision to Kura Sushi, and I know we will benefit tremendously from his experience as we execute our long-term growth plans. As you know, the environment surrounding this pandemic is very fluid, especially as COVID cases are on the rise again in certain parts of the country. Despite this uncertainty, I am pleased with the progress with initiatives we put in place at the onset of this pandemic, resulting in sequential sales improvements from the fiscal first quarter of 2020. Let me quickly go through our quarterly results on a high level. Operating conditions remained challenging due to restrictions on indoor dining in California, resulting in 7 out of our 28 restaurants being unable to use their dining rooms at all during the quarter. While restrictions in certain California counties became more relaxed over the course of the quarter in mid-November, new restrictions required us to close our dining rooms of all of our California restaurants. Steven Benrubi : Thank you, Jimmy. Let me start by saying how excited I am to join the Kura team. While the pandemic has created a lot of uncertainties, we have the right team in place to weather these near-term challenges. Let me briefly go through our liquidity and cash flow. As of the end of the quarter, we had $2.7 million in cash on hand and $3 million in debt as we began drawing on our revolver to meet our planned capital expenditures for fiscal year 2021. As a reminder, we have expanded this revolving line of credit to $35 million from Kura Sushi Japan and have also extended the payback period from 1 year to 5 years from each borrowing date. For the fiscal first quarter, our weekly expenditures were within our expectations at approximately $825,000 per week. Please note that our Q1 burn rate is higher than our burn rate expectations for subsequent quarters during this fiscal year, primarily due to capital spending from our front-loaded store opening schedule and certain annual insurance payments that fell in the first quarter. To illustrate, our weekly expenditure expectations for the remaining 3 quarters in our fiscal year accepting restaurant level expenditures are expected to range from $120,000 to $160,000 for CapEx and $250,000 to $270,000 for G&A. Hajime Jimmy Uba : This concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to answer any questions you have. Operator, please open the line for questions. As a reminder, during the Q&A session, I may answer in Japanese before my response is translated into English. Please bear with us. Operator: . Our first question comes from James Rutherford with Stephens Inc. James Rutherford : And Steve, welcome to the team. It's good to speak with you here on your first earnings call. It looks like your off-premise mix declined a little bit sequentially just in terms of percentage, 17% last quarter, down to 14% this quarter. While on a dollar basis, it actually grew sequentially, which is certainly great to see. I'm just curious, Jimmy, where you see the off-premises mix landing when you've kind of fully recovered to pre-pandemic unit volumes? And sort of additional clarification here is, are you offering delivery today since you've canceled that agreement with Grubhub? Or are you still offering it in some other way? Hajime Jimmy Uba : Sure. James, thank you for your question. In terms of our off-premises mix following the pandemic, we expect our off-premises business to continue to grow through the pandemic. And for some of those gains to remain incremental, I think the best way to illustrate this is to look specifically to Texas. In Q1, Texas had a seating capacity limit of about 50% to 75% and allowed us to use our full conveyor belts, the full Kura experience. So it was the least restrictive operating environment for us during Q1. So as a reminder, our historical off-premises mix is 1%. Our Q1 mix for Texas specifically was mid-single-digits, and that was again in our most permissive operating environment. And so given the off-premises growth that we're seeing in Texas, we certainly do expect stickiness with our off-premises business following the pandemic. While we switch from Grubhub to Square, Square does offer delivery through their partnerships with DoorDash and Postmates. So we've always offered -- we've offered delivery continuously through the implementation of Grubhub in August through today. There's certainly a delivery fee associated with the DoorDash or Postmates orders, but that's on the guest's end. Just to illustrate, like how separate these sales are. The mix from -- the off-premises mix with Grubhub was about 80% pickup, 20% delivery, whereas Square is 96% pickup. And so it's overwhelmingly preferred -- that's the overwhelmingly preferred method for guest to access those off-premises right now. James Rutherford : Perfect. And just one follow-up on Texas specifically. If I recall last quarter, you talked about Texas, I think, running a negative 25% comp, and I think it was negative 35% here in December. Was that just consumers hunkering down a little bit more as cases rose toward the end of your quarter? Or is something else in play that caused that little bit of deceleration in your Texas market specifically? Hajime Jimmy Uba: So the biggest driver in terms of the Texas performance would be the change in restrictions. In Q4, almost across the entirety of Texas, we were able to maintain 75% seating capacities, whereas in Q1, parts of our Texas system was limited to only 50% seating capacity. And so that was really the driving factor there. Given the increase in Texas COVID cases, I'm sure that was also -- that may play a factor in consumer decisions as well. Looking specifically at Texas, our weighted seating capacity in that market was 63% for the quarter, but the Texas-specific comps were negative -- I'm sorry, the Texas-specific comps materially outperformed the weighted seating capacities, which is a really clear demonstration of just how much continued demand we're seeing from our guests. We're very much encouraged by how strongly they're responding, how much they continue to support us. And we're very much poised to capture all the demand once we're able to do so and the restrictions are lifted. James Rutherford : Okay. Perfect. And again, Steven, welcome to the team. Steven Benrubi : Thank you, James. Operator: Our next question comes from Peter Saleh with BTIG. Peter Saleh : I just wanted to ask, it seems like the pandemic is dragging on longer than most people had anticipated, and I think a lot of you guys had expected, I guess, at least initially. So how is it that you're thinking about the unit growth now going forward? What are the expectations for the units for this year? And when you start to think about looking out another year or so, are you being a little bit more cautious? Are you looking at different sites than you otherwise would have taken? Just some thoughts around the unit growth and maybe how that will look in 12 to 18 months from now? Steven Benrubi : Hey, Peter, just a little bit to the number side of it and then hand it off to Jimmy to talk and elaborate a little bit more on go-forward growth plan. But I think as we spelled out in our prepared remarks, I mean, we certainly hit front-loaded the capital plan and store opening timings in fiscal '21, where we now have 4 locations open, 2 -- or actually 3 additional locations under construction, of which at least 2 and possibly all 3 would open this year. And so at this point, with the degree of investment we've made in those additional units, we don't think it would make sense to pull back on those, but rather finish their constructions and be complete. But our spend plan does include some investment in fiscal '22, new store openings really starting late third quarter and into the fourth quarter. That's all built into the $120,000 to $160,000 weekly CapEx run rate for the last 3 quarters that we spelled out. And that's something that we have the flexibility really for a few months here to make a decision on whether to move forward with those or not. Our strategy is certainly to maintain the 20% CAGR to our store count growth. But like everyone, we're monitoring the COVID vaccine progress and restriction lifting, timing and magnitude and could make some adjustments later in the year in the spend plan depending on where that goes. And then with that, I'll give it to Jimmy. Hajime Jimmy Uba: In addition to everything what Steve said, just like to explain some of the decision-making that's been driving this. We run a variety of different financial models that assume different pandemic lengths, different unit counts for whichever period. And while it's certainly true that we'd be able to make some CapEx savings if we were to slow construction right now, considering the fact that we have a 300 unit white space potential, which is absolutely massive, and this was before the pandemic, before there were lots of closures by independent restaurants. And so we expect that white space potential too for instance. And there's just tremendous real estate opportunity. And so we want to be ready to capture all of the revenue once we're ready -- once the restrictions are lifted and we return to normalcy. And looking back at this 3, 4 years from now, we think that we'll be very much vindicated in the decisions that we've made to continue with our unit growth now. Some additional color. If you look at the most recent IBIS report, it notes just how fragmented the sushi industry is. They say the top 2 players control less than 1% of the industry, which is a level of fragmentation that is unimaginable in any other restaurant space. And so what this means is that there's an overwhelming majority of individually operated sushi restaurants. And unfortunately, the pandemic has had a disproportionate financial impact on the sushi market, and we've seen a disproportionate number of closures just because the majority of these are individually operated. And so the demand, we believe, for sushi, remains unchanged or has even increased due to all the pent-up demand from staying inside. And so we think there's tremendous opportunity, and we want to be there ready to capture it. Peter Saleh : Fair enough. Can you just comment on the real estate out there? Are you getting -- are you seeing different or better real estate opportunities? Or are there more tenant allowances? I'm assuming there's got to be some offset to all the negativity in the market right now that may be a benefit on the long term? Hajime Jimmy Uba: The biggest tailwind we're seeing in terms of real estate would just be the sheer availability of quality real estate, this is obviously due to the pandemic, but also because of the -- the work done by our new CEO who has done an excellent job. The pipeline that we've built for fiscal '21 and '22 is of a quality that is -- it is far off surpasses anything that we've seen in the past. The greater pool to draw from has resulted in a really high-quality pipeline. And so we're extremely excited for the units that we'll be opening this year and next. We've seen minor favorability in terms of rent and tenant allowance. But again, the overwhelming things here that is going to be a tailwind for us is certainly the availability of very choice locations. Operator: Our next question comes from Jeremy Hamblin with Craig-Hallum. Jeremy Hamblin : I wanted to start by just getting a sense for the current split of business between off-premises and in-store. What type of breakeven levels do you have for sales volumes that you would need based -- forget about kind of your Q1 CapEx spending, but looking forward, where do you need to be either on a same-store sales basis or on an AUV basis to be breaking even on cash flow? Steven Benrubi : I'll speak a little bit to that, Jeremy. On -- if you think about our more mature locations where they were running at 3.5 million AUV pre-COVID, something along the order of 50% of their prior volumes would put them in a place where we could be breaking even on a restaurant level cash flow basis. If you take the chain as a whole, including all of our new restaurants that are ramping up and have some additional cost, training and some of the supplies and things like that and just the ramping in general of the business, it's more like a chain average of about 65% of prior, call it, pre-COVID type AUV levels would get us to restaurant-level margins around breakeven. And if you're thinking in terms of the business as a whole, inclusive of general and administrative expenses, you're approaching almost 100% pre-COVID AUVs, which would be the point where we would be breaking even on that operating cash flow level in the business. So that's certainly where our focus is going to be as we come out of the COVID restrictions as the next step is getting back those goalposts, if you will, along the way. Jeremy Hamblin : Great. Super helpful. And in terms of thinking about liquidity, so you already have borrowed $3 million on the revolver as of the end Q1. You had subsequently taken down another $6 million. In terms of the relationship with Kura Japan and the potential for that revolver to expand from $35 million to something greater than that, if necessary, if the pandemic carries on longer, is -- can you provide us a sense for whether or not you feel like that access to capital is there? Or if it's not, would that be probably the gating factor on whether or not you could continue on the push for the opportunity you see with 20% unit growth? Steven Benrubi : I'll give a little -- just some context around the use of line expectations, and I'm certain that Jimmy and Ben can speak in more granularity around the Japan side of it. As you mentioned, we are now borrowed at $9 million on the line. That was $3 million through the end of Q1 and then $6 million of additional borrowings here in Q2 as the front-loaded capital plan has come to fruition. And thinking about where we would be at year-end, fiscal year-end here, based upon the conversations we've had about CapEx run rate in that $120,000 to $160,000 weekly going forward through this year from Q2 forward and then G&A being very similar to what Q1 run rate was, those investments alone would bring us into the high teens of borrowings against the line by year-end versus the $35 million total availability under that. And of course, the real variable there is restaurant level where it ran at $70,000 roughly a week of cash use in Q1. Just for illustrative purposes, if it continue to run like that level through to the end of the fiscal year, then total borrowings would be probably in that low 20s, that $21 million to $22 million. And I have to caveat that this is all based upon a lot of unknowns and things out of our control here over the next several weeks and months. But it's that kind of borrowing level we're thinking about or looking at by year-end. And in terms of additional capacity, I'll leave to Jimmy and Ben speak a little more about that. Hajime Jimmy Uba: So to add on to what Steve just discussed, while we do believe that the $35 million revolver should carry us for our current CapEx plans, should the pandemic worsen, we have a variety of capital raise options that we're considering. And certainly, one of them would be to expand the revolver with our parent. In terms of the parent's ability to expand the revolver, we'd like to just touch on some of their most recently publicly disclosed financials. In October and November, they had sales comps of greater than 30%, and their cash on hand is $180 million. So they've got a very strong balance sheet. Their performance is strong. They have ample breathing room. That being said, when we -- whenever we do decide to do a capital raise, that would just be one of the options, and we'll make sure to take the option that is in the best interest of our shareholders. Jeremy Hamblin : Great. Helpful color. Enviable results that they're posting for sure. I wanted to also just touch on 2 other things. First, in terms of just clarifying the split of your Texas stores versus your California stores, I think what I caught was in December, Texas was down 35% versus California down 82%. Could you clarify what that was for Q1 of the split between Texas and California? I didn't catch that in the prepared remarks. Hajime Jimmy Uba: The full year comps for California were down 63%. The full year comps for -- I'm sorry, yes, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. So the full quarter comps for Texas were negative 32%. The full quarter comps for California were negative 63%. This is really a very clear illustration of the impact on revenue that different operating restrictions has on us. Jeremy Hamblin : And for the most part, your Texas stores were capacity limits of 50% to 75% and California was more like 25% to 50% during Q1, correct? Benjamin Porten: Yes, you're correct. In terms of Texas, we were at 50% to 75% seating capacity. The 63% weighted indoor seating capacity that Jimmy mentioned earlier refers to that Texas market. California, we were limited to 0% to 25% seating capacity. As Jimmy mentioned in the prepared remarks, 7 of our units weren't able to offer their -- weren't able to use their indoor dining rooms at all, which brought the California total indoor seating capacity -- weighted indoor seating capacity to about 10%. And so there's a very big difference between those markets in terms of how much of our stores we're able to utilize. Jeremy Hamblin : Great. Helpful color. And then one last thing for me. In terms of your delivery, it sounds like the Square partnership is pretty attractive, and you've seen pretty significant acceleration. I was wondering if you could provide a little more color about the economics of your deal with Square and how that compared to your prior economics with Grubhub? Hajime Jimmy Uba: In terms of the fee structure, for Grubhub, they were targeting approximately 20% for a pickup order and about 30% for delivery order, and we adjusted our pricing on the Grubhub platform to offset those margin pressures. For Square, they charge $0.30 per transaction plus credit card processing fees, which we would be paying in either case. So the per transaction fee for Square is truly minimal. And so we're able to offer the same prices on our Square platform as we do in restaurant. And so in terms of the attractiveness to our guests, I mean, the better option is obvious. And the major transition from Grubhub to Square happened over November to December. November's total off-premises sales were about $470,000. Whereas once we had full Square implementation in December, the off-premises sales almost doubled to $860,000. I mean it's certainly true that the operating conditions have changed, and we now have a full ban on indoor dining in California, but we really do think that the ease of use that Square provides as well as the -- our ability to price the same way that we do in restaurants has done a tremendous job in terms of attracting our guests. And so that $0.30 per transaction fee has been more than offset with the gain in volume. Operator: Our next question comes from Andrew Strelzik with BMO Capital Markets. Andrew Strelzik : My first one, I believe you commissioned a new white space study, and you've talked about some of the competitive closures in the -- unfortunately, as they may be in the sushi space. Are you able to share any of the findings from that study? Or when do you think you'd be able to share what you've learned from that? Hajime Jimmy Uba: So there hasn't been a ton of restaurant data specifically relating to Japanese restaurants or sushi released by Black Box or any of your other typical restaurant analytics companies. And so we've been sort of scrubbing through Yelp to get an idea of how much -- how severe the closures have been in the markets where we are. And so far, it is indicating that we're seeing a substantial number of closures and that we can expect to capture additional revenue following the pandemic. In terms of the white space study and the form analytics risk analysis model, that's actually -- that's still being processed. And so we hope to be able to share that soon, but we won't be able to today. And so looking at our existing system size of 29 units, if you include the most recent opening with Aventura, we've been looking at the Japanese and sushi restaurants, starting those restaurants on the ground. And we have corroborated our findings with Yelp. And so we -- given the closures that we've seen among close competitors or competitors that are geographically close to us, we do expect to benefit from the -- that demand that is going unaddressed. Andrew Strelzik : Okay. That's very helpful. My next question, as you've seen the transition to online orders here in December really, can you talk about or do you see any differences between average check or order sizes, number of items ordered between online orders versus when it was historically, the call-in orders and maybe how that compares to a typical dine-in transaction? Hajime Jimmy Uba: In terms of the ticket averages, we haven't really seen a change since we've moved to Square. The difference has really been in volume. The change in pricing are just savings that we passed along to our guests. Andrew Strelzik : Okay, got it. And then just 2 last things for me. The first one, you had been piloting loyalty program. And I'm just curious how you see that as a potential lever. As the operating environment starts to normalize, whether it's getting sign-ups as people come back to the stores and then incentivizing the frequency. I'm just curious, do you see that as an opportunity to really rebuild the volumes as capacity restrictions maybe go the other way and start to ease? Hajime Jimmy Uba: So the rewards program has been tremendously useful for us throughout the pandemic. Most recently, we've really seen it as -- we've seen its utility as we've been working on building our off-premises business. When we were working with Grubhub, we realized that the 80% pickup mix indicated that the strong majority of everybody -- of all the orders that were coming through Grubhub were coming from existing customers. And so using that knowledge in December, we sent out promotions specifically to our rewards members announcing that we were doing Square. We did a couple of different promotions, and they were extremely well received by our guests. And so it's been -- our guests really are big fans of us. It's been -- and having this database and being able to activate that fan affinity has been tremendously useful. When we were reopening Texas, we were able to send rewards members’ e-mails looking at by region. And so we said, "Hey, Plano fans, we're going to be reopening at x date with x capacity." And then later on, when we brought back the conveyor belts, we said, "Hey, Plano fans, conveyor belt is coming back to Plano." And pretty much within the week for any one of those regulatory changes, we've been able to still be additional seating capacity largely through activating these fans. And so it's been tremendously useful. So even for the pandemic, we are seeing monthly growth in terms of our rewards program of about 3,000 members. To date, we have about 84,000 members. And so we think this is going to continue to be a very useful tool for us, both in terms of promoting off-premises during the pandemic, but also in terms of indoor dining and advertising LTOs, announcing store reopenings or dining room reopenings. It's going to be a very useful tool for us. And we're extremely proud to announce that the new version of our app has actually been released. We'd love for you to download it on the App Store. It now integrates the rewards program, the waiting app and online ordering all into a single system. And so we think that's going to be a great incentivizor for additional people to sign up, and we expect the rewards program to continue to be a meaningful contributor to our business. Q - Andrew Strelzik : Okay. That's great color, and I'll have to check out the new app. But my last question is -- and this one is for Steve. And I know it hasn't been that long in the seat, obviously. But I'm just curious, as you've joined the team with fresh eyes, just any early observations that you've made or surprises? And kind of as you think about your priorities, what you can share on that front? Steven Benrubi : Sure. Honestly, there's been no surprises. I think it's been more about validating what I hope to see as the growth opportunity in the business. And obviously, a lot of that doesn't come to fruition in the numbers until we can get past the COVID environment. Organizationally, I think there's some things that, as a team, Jimmy and his other executives had already been working on, and I'm certainly on board with them on what our priorities need to be around leadership in the organization and setting us up to scale the business properly. But I really felt after a month here now, the company is running toward a very successful growth story. And I'm jumping on board at a good time where I can help make the right decisions around organization and also the growth strategy along with our new Chief Development Officer. But it's all been very validating in a positive way. Operator: Our last question comes from George Kelly with ROTH Capital Partners. George Kelly : So just a few. And I want to start sort of following up with one of the prior questions. You talked a little bit about how quickly the unit level economics have recovered with your -- with the parent company in Japan. And I was just wondering if you could -- I couldn't quite keep up with the growth that they've seen. But how quickly has that business rebounded? And is it now above pre-pandemic levels? It sounded like you said 30%. I just wanted to make sure I understood that. Hajime Jimmy Uba: So for some context, we just really want to emphasize that the pandemic situation in Japan versus the pandemic situation here is completely different. And the 30% plus comps that we were discussing for October and November, the infection rates in Japan were exceptionally low and restauranteurs weren't seeing any of the restrictions that we're seeing in the United States. And so it's a very different game. So we just wanted to clarify that before discussing. So in terms of the October and November comp, there were 2 major tailwinds for us. And one was the -- our reward toy partnership was with this cartoon called Demon Slayer, which just released a movie. I believe it's outsold Spirited Away. It might be the best-performing Japanese movie of all time in Japan. And so that has been a huge guest offer stands. The other would be a government support program with the gramatically incorrect title, Go To Eat, where they would help subsidize restaurant bills for consumers. And that was a very, very meaningful support for the entire restaurant industry during its implementation. But those are both temporary things. And so we don't expect those trends to continue indefinitely. Yes. The 30% is a tough thing to keep up or lap. George Kelly : Yes, for sure. But to me, just -- that's a powerful signal of what kind of -- when things do normalize, what it could potentially -- I mean that's -- people want to go back out to eat. So I guess that gets into my next question, which is whether it's -- that dynamic that you just explained, all the closures, the fact that your units are often outperforming the kind of capacity restrictions, this off-premise business, et cetera, it seems to me like you are not backing off, or if anything, you're even more bullish about the longer-term opportunity. And so the question is, I understand the near-term dynamics are very hard to predict. But why not raise additional capital or somehow accelerate your unit openings or at least start accelerating the build -- as you build the pipeline to do something above 20% for the next 3 to 5 years if you’re seeing these incredible opportunities? Why not really step on it? Hajime Jimmy Uba: So George, you're completely right that we are more bullish than ever about our long-term opportunities. We think we're very, very well positioned to become the market leader and really the first truly national sushi brand. And so looking to the future, if the expectations that we currently have pulled out and that we do see a lot of competitors close, our sales recover, we have consistent comp recovery and comp growth, we're certainly open to the possibility of accelerating our growth and doing a capital raise to support that growth. But at this point, we feel that it's too early to give concrete details. But again, every option is on the table for us. We're very much excited for what we're going to be doing over the next several years. George Kelly : Okay. Great. And then last question for me is related to the incrementality of the off-premise business. And do you have any way of comparing customer lists? Or do you know who these customers are? And how do you measure whether or not they're new to the brand? Hajime Jimmy Uba: In terms of customer data, Grubhub is very tight lipped in terms of sharing their data. But looking at the off-premises mix of 80% pickup versus delivery, we believe that, that implies that a strong majority of those orders are coming from existing guests. Now that we've moved on to Square and we have greater access to data, we're very excited to begin leveraging that data to more effectively reach our guests. Oh sorry, just to add on to that incrementality, even in Texas where we're able to have 50% to 75% seating, the comps right now are mid-single -- or the off-premises mix is mid-single digits, much, much higher than the 1%. And so even when we are able to offer indoor dining or seating stickiness in off-premises, and so we're very confident about incrementality following the pandemic in terms of our off-premises sales. George Kelly : Yes. And I guess 1 follow-up to that. Have you spent much advertising behind this to introduce it to -- through digital advertising or things that are more specific to -- the messages more specific to that customer? Hajime Jimmy Uba: So in terms of advertising the existence of our off-premise sales, that's largely been done through our rewards database. And so it's been free and extremely effective in terms of activating those guests. We've also discussed that in terms of -- we've also mentioned it on our social media platforms. In terms of targeted messaging, we aren't at that level of data sophistication yet, but that's one of the reasons that we're so excited about Square. Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to management for any closing comments. Hajime Jimmy Uba: Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing you at our next earnings call. Thank you. Steven Benrubi : Thank you. Operator: This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, have a wonderful evening.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) Faces Financial Challenges Despite Revenue Growth
- Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.31, missing estimates and indicating financial challenges.
- The company generated revenue of approximately $64.89 million, slightly above estimates, showcasing its ability to maintain sales.
- Despite negative profitability indicators, KRUS maintains a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72 and a strong current ratio of 2.67, suggesting financial stability.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) is a technology-driven Japanese restaurant chain known for its innovative approach in the dining industry. The company leverages technology to enhance customer experience and streamline operations. Despite its forward-thinking strategies, KRUS faces competition from other restaurant chains and must navigate financial challenges to maintain its market position.
On April 8, 2025, KRUS reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.31, which was lower than the estimated -$0.08. This result was also worse than the previous year's same quarter loss of $0.09 per share. The company's financial performance was discussed during its Q2 2025 earnings conference call, featuring key executives and analysts from firms like TD Cowen and Barclays.
Despite the disappointing EPS, KRUS generated a revenue of approximately $64.89 million, slightly surpassing the estimated $64.87 million. This indicates that while the company is struggling with profitability, it is still able to generate sales. The price-to-sales ratio of 1.94 suggests that investors are paying $1.94 for every dollar of the company's sales, reflecting some confidence in its revenue-generating capabilities.
KRUS's financial metrics reveal challenges, with a negative price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of -47.67 and an earnings yield of -2.10%, indicating negative earnings. However, the company maintains a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, showing a balanced approach to leveraging debt. The current ratio of 2.67 suggests a strong ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets, providing some financial stability.
The enterprise value to sales ratio of 2.23 and the enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio of 32 highlight the company's valuation relative to its sales and cash flow. These figures suggest that while KRUS faces profitability challenges, it continues to hold value in the market, driven by its innovative approach and revenue generation.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) Faces Financial Challenges Despite Revenue Growth
- Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.31, missing estimates and indicating financial challenges.
- The company generated revenue of approximately $64.89 million, slightly above estimates, showcasing its ability to maintain sales.
- Despite negative profitability indicators, KRUS maintains a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72 and a strong current ratio of 2.67, suggesting financial stability.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRUS) is a technology-driven Japanese restaurant chain known for its innovative approach in the dining industry. The company leverages technology to enhance customer experience and streamline operations. Despite its forward-thinking strategies, KRUS faces competition from other restaurant chains and must navigate financial challenges to maintain its market position.
On April 8, 2025, KRUS reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.31, which was lower than the estimated -$0.08. This result was also worse than the previous year's same quarter loss of $0.09 per share. The company's financial performance was discussed during its Q2 2025 earnings conference call, featuring key executives and analysts from firms like TD Cowen and Barclays.
Despite the disappointing EPS, KRUS generated a revenue of approximately $64.89 million, slightly surpassing the estimated $64.87 million. This indicates that while the company is struggling with profitability, it is still able to generate sales. The price-to-sales ratio of 1.94 suggests that investors are paying $1.94 for every dollar of the company's sales, reflecting some confidence in its revenue-generating capabilities.
KRUS's financial metrics reveal challenges, with a negative price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of -47.67 and an earnings yield of -2.10%, indicating negative earnings. However, the company maintains a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, showing a balanced approach to leveraging debt. The current ratio of 2.67 suggests a strong ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets, providing some financial stability.
The enterprise value to sales ratio of 2.23 and the enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio of 32 highlight the company's valuation relative to its sales and cash flow. These figures suggest that while KRUS faces profitability challenges, it continues to hold value in the market, driven by its innovative approach and revenue generation.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) Shows Signs of Financial Improvement Despite Challenges
- Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.08, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
- The company's revenue was $64.46 million, slightly below expectations, but its price-to-sales ratio of 4.51 indicates investor confidence.
- Despite a negative EPS, KRUS demonstrates strong liquidity with a current ratio of 3.47 and a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc., listed as NASDAQ:KRUS, is a prominent player in the sushi restaurant industry. Known for its innovative dining experience, Kura Sushi operates a chain of revolving sushi bars across the United States. The company competes with other sushi chains and casual dining restaurants, striving to capture a significant market share with its unique offerings.
On January 7, 2025, KRUS reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.08, which was a notable improvement over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a -$0.24 loss per share. This performance also marked a positive shift from the previous year's loss of $0.18 per share, indicating progress in the company's financial health. Despite the negative EPS, the improvement suggests that KRUS is on a path to better financial performance.
The company generated a revenue of approximately $64.46 million, slightly below the estimated $66.59 million. This shortfall in revenue might be a concern, but the company's price-to-sales ratio of 4.51 indicates that investors are still willing to pay $4.51 for every dollar of sales. This suggests a level of confidence in KRUS's ability to generate future sales and growth.
KRUS's financial metrics reveal a complex picture. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of -151.14 and an earnings yield of -0.66% highlight the current negative earnings situation. However, the debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67 suggests a moderate level of debt, which is manageable. The current ratio of 3.47 indicates strong liquidity, ensuring that KRUS can cover its short-term liabilities comfortably.
The enterprise value to sales ratio of 4.69 and the enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio of 66.99 reflect the company's valuation and cash flow generation. The high enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio suggests that while KRUS's valuation is high, its cash flow generation is relatively low. This could be an area for the company to focus on improving as it continues to enhance its financial performance.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) Shows Signs of Financial Improvement Despite Challenges
- Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS) reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.08, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
- The company's revenue was $64.46 million, slightly below expectations, but its price-to-sales ratio of 4.51 indicates investor confidence.
- Despite a negative EPS, KRUS demonstrates strong liquidity with a current ratio of 3.47 and a moderate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc., listed as NASDAQ:KRUS, is a prominent player in the sushi restaurant industry. Known for its innovative dining experience, Kura Sushi operates a chain of revolving sushi bars across the United States. The company competes with other sushi chains and casual dining restaurants, striving to capture a significant market share with its unique offerings.
On January 7, 2025, KRUS reported an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.08, which was a notable improvement over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a -$0.24 loss per share. This performance also marked a positive shift from the previous year's loss of $0.18 per share, indicating progress in the company's financial health. Despite the negative EPS, the improvement suggests that KRUS is on a path to better financial performance.
The company generated a revenue of approximately $64.46 million, slightly below the estimated $66.59 million. This shortfall in revenue might be a concern, but the company's price-to-sales ratio of 4.51 indicates that investors are still willing to pay $4.51 for every dollar of sales. This suggests a level of confidence in KRUS's ability to generate future sales and growth.
KRUS's financial metrics reveal a complex picture. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of -151.14 and an earnings yield of -0.66% highlight the current negative earnings situation. However, the debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67 suggests a moderate level of debt, which is manageable. The current ratio of 3.47 indicates strong liquidity, ensuring that KRUS can cover its short-term liabilities comfortably.
The enterprise value to sales ratio of 4.69 and the enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio of 66.99 reflect the company's valuation and cash flow generation. The high enterprise value to operating cash flow ratio suggests that while KRUS's valuation is high, its cash flow generation is relatively low. This could be an area for the company to focus on improving as it continues to enhance its financial performance.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. Earnings Preview: A Deep Dive into Financial Metrics
- Analysts predict a downturn in earnings for Kura Sushi USA despite a set EPS estimate of $0.15 and projected revenue of $65.39 million.
- The company's high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 590.41 suggests a high valuation compared to earnings, raising concerns among investors.
- KRUS's financial health indicators, such as the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of roughly 0.78 and a current ratio of about 2.43, reflect a balanced approach to financing and financial stability.
Kura Sushi USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRUS), a technology-enabled Japanese restaurant concept, is gearing up to release its quarterly earnings on Thursday, July 4, 2024, before the market opens. With Wall Street analysts setting the earnings per share (EPS) estimate at $0.15 and projecting revenue for the quarter to be approximately $65.39 million, stakeholders are keenly awaiting these figures. The company, based in Irvine, California, has already shared its preliminary unaudited financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024, hinting at its performance and potential growth trajectory during this period.
Despite the anticipation, analysts from Zacks Investment Research predict a downturn in earnings for KRUS in its forthcoming earnings report. This analysis suggests that Kura Sushi may lack the necessary combination of two crucial elements typically associated with an earnings beat, setting a cautious tone for investors. This speculation is particularly significant given the company's financial metrics, which include a high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 590.41, indicating a high valuation compared to earnings.
Furthermore, KRUS's financial health and market valuation are reflected in its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of about 4.35, suggesting that investors are willing to pay $4.35 for every dollar of sales. The enterprise value to sales (EV/Sales) ratio stands at approximately 4.69, highlighting the company's total valuation in relation to its sales. Additionally, the enterprise value to operating cash flow (EV/OCF) ratio of around 44.14 shows the company's valuation in terms of its operating cash flow, with an earnings yield notably low at 0.17%, indicating lower earnings relative to the company's share price.
KRUS's debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of roughly 0.78 points to a moderate level of debt relative to equity, suggesting a balanced approach to financing. The current ratio, at about 2.43, indicates that the company is well-positioned to cover its short-term liabilities with its short-term assets, providing a measure of financial stability. As investors and stakeholders await the official earnings announcement, these financial metrics offer a comprehensive view of Kura Sushi's financial health and market position, setting the stage for the upcoming earnings release.
