Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., the fast-food chain McDonald’s Corp. sold to the public last year, said fourth-quarter profit more than doubled as it opened 35 new restaurants.
Net income rose to $10.8 million, or 33 cents a share, from $4.26 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales climbed 27 percent to $219.7 million, Denver-based Chipotle said Thursday in a statement. Chipotle increased sales at restaurants open at least 13 months by 10.1 percent in the quarter.
Chief executive Steve Ells, who founded the company in 1993 before selling to McDonald’s, plans to open as many as 105 restaurants this year, adding to more than 570 locations in response to rising demand for its burritos and tacos.
The company was estimated to earn 27 cents a share, the average of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Shares of Chipotle rose $2.72, or 4.4 percent, to $64.10 in after-hours trading after the results were released. Earlier, they climbed $1.69 to $61.38 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have almost tripled since their IPO in January 2006.
Restaurant operating margin increased 1 percent in the quarter to 20 percent because of higher-priced sales in some markets resulting from the addition of naturally raised chicken or beef items, the company said. That figure is what the company earned after paying for overhead, salaries and marketing.
McDonald’s bought Chipotle in 1998, five years after Ells opened his first restaurant near the University of Denver.
Chipotle, named after a smoked jalapeño pepper, sells burritos, tacos, salads and a low-carbohydrate burrito bol, or a burrito without the tortilla, so it uses fewer ingredients and kitchen supplies than similar chains, analysts said.
