Sweetgreen shares soar 35% after company beats revenue expectations

Sweetgreen shares surged 35% on Friday after the company topped Wall Street's revenue expectations for the first quarter.

The salad chain reported $158 million in revenue, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $152 million. It is an increase of 26% from the prior-year period when it reported revenue of $125.1 million.

Sweetgreen also raised revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year. Shares of the company are up 189% so far in 2024.

Jonathan Neman, Sweetgreen CEO and co-founder, said on an earnings call with analysts that the company opened six new restaurants in the first quarter. Neman highlighted the success of the South Lake Union location in Seattle, which "had one of the strongest opening weeks in the company's recent history."

"Openings like these demonstrate that our brand has significantly greater reach than our current physical footprint and that there is massive white space for our category-defining concept," he said.

Neman added that the company remains "on track" to open about seven new automated Infinite Kitchen restaurants this year and plans to establish more next year. Analysts were "impressed" by the early results from the Infinite Kitchen locations, according to StreetAccount.

The company announced Tuesday it's adding steak to its menu, expanding its protein offerings with a caramelized garlic steak protein plate, a steakhouse chopped warm bowl, and a kale Caesar steak salad.

"During our testing phase in Boston, we saw Caramelized Garlic Steak quickly become a dinnertime favorite, with steak making up nearly 1 in 5 dinner orders," said Nicolas Jammet, Sweetgreen's chief concept officer and co-founder, in a press release. "We're thrilled to bring customers more of what they are craving at every part of the day."