The food sector has repeatedly produced great success stories in recent decades, allowing investors to achieve fantastic profits. Think of McDonald’s or Starbucks. In short, one could say: „People will always eat and drink.“

One such success story is Chipotle Mexican Grill. The current figures show: The fast food chain continues its growth trajectory unabated.

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Pioneer of „Casual Food“ If you are not familiar with Chipotle, let me introduce the company to you first. Chipotle Mexican Grill was founded in 1993 in Denver, Colorado. The first branch was opened near the local university. The company is now headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

As the name suggests, the fast food chain offers Mexican food such as tacos, burritos, and salads. In addition to fresh ingredients, customers receive good service. The dishes are freshly prepared according to the customer’s wishes in front of their eyes. With this concept, Chipotle Mexican was one of the pioneers of the so-called „casual food.“

Global expansion is underway From the start, customers responded well to this concept. In 1999, Chipotle opened its first restaurants outside of Colorado. In the following years, the company continued to expand its network and also expanded internationally. Chipotle now operates more than 3,400 restaurants and employs over 100,000 people. In addition to the United States, the chain now also has branches in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. However, there are currently only two restaurants in Frankfurt, Germany.

Part of the service is the option to order online. Shortly afterwards, the food is ready for pick up at a counter. More and more branches are equipped with a so-called „Chipotlane,“ where customers can order digitally and then pick up their order through a drive-thru.

Exceeding analyst expectations With the latest figures, Chipotle once again exceeded analyst expectations. In the fourth quarter, 121 branches were opened, 110 of which had a Chipotlane. Revenue increased by 16% to $2.52 billion. Comparable sales in branches that have been open for at least one year increased by over 8%. Net income increased by 26% to $282.1 million. Earnings per share improved by 27% to $10.28. Analysts had only expected $9.73 per share and revenues of $2.49 billion.

In the full year 2023, Chipotle achieved new records in revenue and profit. Revenue grew by 14% to $9.80 billion. Net income improved by 37% to $1.23 billion.

The outlook was also convincing. As previously announced, the company plans to open between 285 and 315 new restaurants this year. Management expects a revenue increase of around 15%. Chipotle also announced a share buyback program. In the coming months, they plan to repurchase own shares worth an additional $200 million.

Source: www.aktienscreener.com

Impressive uptrend to continue The Chipotle stock had been in a consolidation phase for almost two years since September 2021. However, before the end of the year, the price was finally able to establish itself above the $2,000 mark.

Since then, the Chipotle stock has been rising sharply and reached a new all-time high of over $2,700 after the earnings release. A pause would not be a surprise after this surge, but in the medium term, everything speaks for a continuation of the impressive uptrend. The next major milestone at $3,000 is likely just an intermediate goal on the way up.