Flash: Panera Bread beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above consensus; guides FY11 EPS above consensus

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.09 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.07; revenues rose 15.9% year/year to $422.1 mln vs the $420.2 mln consensus. PNRA reports Q1 operating margin of 12.6% vs 12.2% Street Expectations. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.15-1.17 vs. $1.10 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co is targeting a 0 to 50 bps y/y improvement in operating margins. Co issues upside guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $4.47-4.51 vs. $4.46 Thomson Reuters consensus. The Company is narrowing its fiscal 2011 target for Company-owned comparable bakery-cafe sales growth to 5.0% to 6.0% from 4.0% to 6.0%. This target assumes transaction growth of 2.5% to 3.5% and average check growth of approximately 2.5%. The increased average check growth target is primarily a result of an incremental 1.0% price increase the Company intends to take to offset increased inflation in the latter part of 2011. The incremental price increase and increased inflation are expected to offset each other at the operating margin line and have no impact on the Company’s earnings per diluted share target.