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Merida, Mexico, Paseo Montejo Avenida Colon, Chili's restaurant, Shrimp Caesar Salad with menu
Merida, Mexico, Paseo Montejo Avenida Colon, Chili’s restaurant, shrimp Caesar salad with menu (Jeffrey Greenberg/Getty Images)

Brinker feels god in this Chili’s tonight; restaurant owner soars on huge sales growth

Luke Kawa

Shares of Brinker International are spiking after the owner of Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy posted much larger profits than Wall Street expected and said that trend was poised to continue.

Earnings per share of $0.95 were about 40% above the consensus estimate for its fiscal Q1 2025, and management boosted their guidance for full-year sales and profits. The stock is up nearly 8% in the premarket.

While most of the industry — particularly the quick-service restaurant space — continues to be obsessed with providing value to price-conscious consumers, Brinker doesn’t seem to have the same problem at the chain that accounts for 90% of its revenues.

Management credited both higher traffic and higher prices for driving robust same-store sales growth of 14.1% year on year at company-owned Chili’s locations. 

Brinker International Q1 2025 results
Source: Brinker International

“Great food with great service at industry-leading value is driving strong Chili’s sales and traffic,” President and CEO Kevin Hochman said.

This marks Brinker as a winner in a slowing market: after booming from 2021 through 2023, the annual growth in US spending at “food dining and drinking places” has decelerated to well below its prepandemic rate.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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