Buffalo Wild Wings has something in common in Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Matt Ryan — they both had a lousy fourth quarter.
The wings and beer restaurant chain said late Tuesday afternoon that profits in the quarter fell 38.2 percent — missing Wall Street expectations and sending its shares down 4.5 percent in after-hours trading.
“The challenging restaurant environment continued in the fourth quarter and culminated with a difficult December,” Chief Executive Sally Smith said in a statement.
Although revenue inched up to $494.2 million it, too, missed forecasts. Same-store sales fell roughly 4 percent.
To turn things around, the Minneapolis chain is exploring new restaurant formats that emphasize take-outs over table service and game-day sporting viewing.
Management reiterated its plan to buy back as much as $500 million of stock.
“Our focus for the year is to gain momentum on sales, improve our cost structure, grow internationally, optimize our domestic restaurant portfolio, and lower our cost of capital,” Smith said.
Buffalo Wild Wings has been under attack by activist hedge fund Marcato Capital since July. The Mick McGuire-led fund has criticized the company for having poor service, declining guest traffic and focusing on company-owned locations instead of franchises.
On Monday, McGuire nominated himself and three others to Buffalo Wild Wings’ board.
For the Falcons’ Ryan, his team blew a 25-point lead and was outscored 19-0 in the fourth quarter — on its way to losing the Super Bowl, 34-28.
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