Benzinga | Aug 18, 2021 07:53AM EDT

Brinker International Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates

* Brinker International Inc (NYSE:EAT) reported fourth-quarter FY21 sales growth of 79% year-on-year, to $1.009 billion, marginally ahead of the consensus of $1.00 billion. Company sales surged to $990.9 million.

* Brinker comparable restaurant sales rose 65.4% Y/Y, Chili's increased 59.8%, and Maggiano's climbed 147.9%.

* Operating expenses increased 47.3% Y/Y to $908 million.

* The operating margin was 10%, and operating income for the quarter recovered to $100.6 million.

* The company held $23.9 million in cash and equivalents as of June 30, 2021.

* Net cash provided by operating activities in FY21 totaled $369.7 million with a free cash flow of $275.7 million.

* EPS of $1.68 missed the analyst consensus of $1.71.

* "We continued to accelerate our competitive advantages and multi-channel sales strategy, resulting in traffic-driven share gains and meaningful outperformance of our pre-pandemic sales and margin results," said CEO Wyman Roberts.

* Price action: EAT traded lower by 1.81% at $50.00 in the premarket on the last check Wednesday.