Wendy's Misses Estimates but Returns to Profit

It has been a mixed first-quarter for Wendy's (NYSE: WEN), with the fast food giant returning to profit but missing Wall Street expectations and dropping over 3% in Tuesday premarket trading.

The noises that are coming out of WEN suggest that the company is in the midst of a transition year. It is admittedly under new management, and it is attempting to follow the McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) route to success by updating its restaurants and menu items.

The company announced on Tuesday that it is expecting adjusted earnings to come in at $320-$335 million, which is down from the previous forecast of $335-$345 million. Still, WEN recently took over Burger King (NYSE: BKC) as the second biggest fast food chain in the States so the situation is far from disastrous.

Wendy's brought in net income of $12.4 million, or 2 cents per share, for the period ending April 1. That is against a net loss of $1.4 million, breakeven results, the previous year.

The revenue numbers should put a smile on Wendy's face, as it rose 2% to $593.2 million from $582.5 million. While obviously positive, that still fell short of the Wall Street estimate of $608.1 million.

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