Chipotle Mexican Grill Q4 revenue falls just shy of estimates

Investing.com -- Chipotle Mexican Grill reported Tuesday mixed fourth-quarter results as earnings, but revenue fell just short of estimates. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) fell more than 4% in afterhours trading following the report.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, the company reported earnings per share of $0.25, above estimates of $0.24 a share. Revenue of $2.85 billion fell short of analysts' estimates of $2.85B.

Comparable restaurant sales increased 5.4%, just missing estimates of 5.6%. 

Looking ahead to 2025, the company is expecting low- to mid-single digit same-store sales growth.

The company's efforts to increase its portion sizes following customer complaints pushed food, beverage and packaging costs to 30.4% of total revenue, an increase from 29.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

"The increase was primarily due to higher usage of ingredients as we focused on ensuring consistent and generous portions, a protein mix shift from the success of our Smoked Brisket limited time offer, and to a lesser extent, inflation across several items including higher avocado and dairy costs," the company said.