Shares of Sonic Corp. SONC, +8.23% rose 1.1% in light premarket trade Tuesday, after the drive-in restaurant chain provided an estimate of fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and same-store sales that were above expectations. The company expects net earnings per share for the quarter to Aug. 31 to be 50 cents to 51 cents, compared with 50 cents a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted EPS is expected to be 51 cents to 52 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 50 cents. Same-store sales are estimated to rise 2.6% from a year ago, compared with the FactSet consensus of 2.0%, as sales at company drive-ins increased 2.5% and sales at franchise drive-ins grew 2.6%. The stock has rallied 8.5% over the past three months and 53.5% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.37% has gained 15.6% over the past 12 months.
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