Cava Q2 2026 earnings beat on same-store sales, traffic gains

Revenue for the 4th ended July 12 reached $365.4 million, a 31.3% summation implicit the anterior twelvemonth quarter. Same-store income maturation of 9% topped expert projections for a 7.1% gain, according to the Wall Street Journal. Analyst expectations called for gross of $360 million. The per-share effect bushed expert projections by a penny.

Of the same-store income increase, 5.3% came from higher impermanent postulation and 3.7% came from paper terms changes and merchandise mix, the institution said. Cava opened 17 nett caller restaurants during the quarter, bringing its full to 476 locations, a 19.6% summation twelvemonth implicit year. Restaurant-level nett borderline came successful astatine 25.7%.

"Same edifice income accrued 9.0%, including impermanent postulation maturation of 5.3%, and we opened 17 nett caller restaurants during the quarter," Chief Executive Officer Brett Schulman said successful a statement.

Cava besides addressed the little interaction of a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce. Schulman told analysts, according to the Wall Street Journal, that arsenic the 2nd 4th coiled down, lawsuit anxiousness astir lettuce and caller nutrient mostly weighed connected sales, contempt the information that Cava's proviso concatenation excludes Mexican leafy greens and its paper contains nary iceberg lettuce. Chief Financial Officer Tricia Tolivar, speaking connected the aforesaid call, said same-restaurant income had bounced backmost to the mid azygous digits and that the public's worries astir the outbreak were fading.

Adjusted EBITDA grew 30% to $54.7 cardinal successful the quarter. Net income of $23 cardinal represented a 25.3% summation implicit the anterior twelvemonth quarter.

Cava reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, projecting 75 to 77 nett caller edifice openings, same-restaurant income maturation of 4.5% to 6.5%, and adjusted EBITDA of $181 cardinal to $191 million, the institution said.

Cava shares climbed to $68.30 successful Tuesday after-hours trading, a summation of 12%.