Today, Cramer’s highlighting the best conference calls of this past earnings season. He thinks Buffalo Wild Wings hit a home run, but Chipotle was easily just as good. This Mexican food chain kept it simple: simple themes, simple metrics, simple stories – and that’s what sells, Cramer says.
Apparently, simple’s part of the business plan at Chipotle. CEO Steve Ellis started off the call by saying, “I’m really pleased with our results for the quarter. They reflect our discipline to focus on just a few things and try to do those things better than anyone else.” The CEO emphasized CMG’s growth without having to resort to “marketing schemes or other things commonly used by the restaurant industry to increase comp sales,” adding that Chipotle only uses the “best raw ingredients” and naturally raised meat. Cramer thinks this was a shrewd way for CMG to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Chipotle had great earnings, its costs as a total percentage of revenues are dropping again because of higher restaurant sales, and it raised its guidance. It’s also opening more restaurants than Cramer had anticipated – this is the underpromise, overdeliver that he looks for.
Great food, great growth, great hospitality, it’s making a play for the green-leaning aesthetic by selling natural foods, and Cramer thinks it’s working.
Bottom Line: Chipotle, in addition to delivering a fabulous quarter, also delivered one of the two best conference calls of this past earnings season. Cramer’s all in.
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