Morton's Restaurant Group dives on wider Q3 loss
Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. (NYSE: MRT) shares are diving after the restaurant operator’s third-quarter loss widened to $0.74 million, or $0.04 per share, worse than analyst estimates of a $0.03 loss per share and compared with a loss of $0.1 million, or $0.01 per share, a year earlier.
"We are working hard to build our business with our Morton's genuine hospitality; one guest at a time," CEO Thomas J. Baldwin said in a statement. "Our strategic initiatives, development programs, and international expansion plans, with the August opening of our Morton's steakhouse in Macau, are moving forward.”
The Chicago-based firm’s quarterly operating results were impacted by pre-opening costs that increased $0.8 million compared with a year earlier.
Fourth quarter diluted net income per share is expected to be in the range of $0.46 to $0.48, below Wall Street expectations of $0.51 per share.
Morton’s expects fiscal 2007 income in the range of about $0.85 to $0.87 per share, below analyst projections of $0.91 per share.
In today’s trading, MRT shares lost 17.49%, or $3.01, at $14.20. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $13.64 to $20.82.
