Shake Shack Releases First Earnings Report, Stock Falls

This afternoon Shake Shack, restaurateur Danny Meyer's New York City-based burger chain, released its first quarterly financial report for 2015. The report comes just over a month after the Shack went public with an IPO worth $745.5 million. Business Insider notes that Shake Shacks' earnings were mostly positive: Sales increased 51.5 percent in the fourth quarter, a nod to new locations that were announced in the past couple of months. Sales at existing locations also jumped by 7.2 percent.

But Shack Shack had a net loss of a penny per share, after costs and expenditures. It's not cause for concern, according to some analysts. Others remain wary of the company's extremely strong IPO. Meanwhile, investors were not happy: Bloomberg reports that Shake Shack Inc. shares fell 8.5 percent after the earnings report was released, dropping to $42. Still, the stock price closed at $46.90, which is just about where the price landed at the end of its first day of trading.

CEO Randy Garutti released the following comments:

"We are pleased with the strength of our fourth quarter results and excited to begin our journey as a public company. As a result of our successful IPO, we have the financial flexibility to support our robust expansion plans. Near-term, we are targeting at least 10 new domestic company-operated Shacks annually, with the goal of doubling our domestic company-operated store count in three years and tripling our store count in five years. Long-term, we see the potential for at least 450 domestic company-operated Shacks."

Garutti's statement didn't offer any additional details regarding Shake Shack's growth plan. The company most recently announced plans to expand into Japan, and is set to open its first location in Tokyo in 2016.