Panera Bread Company (PNRA) has reported 1.97 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 27, 2016. The company has earned $44.01 million, or $1.92 a share in the quarter, compared with $43.16 million, or $1.74 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $46.93 million, or $2.05 a share compared with $46.57 million or $1.88 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 5.11 percent to $727.11 million from $691.76 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 78 basis points over the previous year period to 34.78 percent. Total expenses were 90.28 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 89.90 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 38 basis points in operating margin to 9.72 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $70.68 million, compared with $69.88 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter was almost stable at $75.13 million when compared with the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin contracted 55 basis points in the quarter to 10.33 percent from 10.88 percent in the last year period.

Ron Shaich, Chairman and chief executive officer, commented, "The power of our multi-year strategic plan and the impact of our initiatives to transform Panera into a better competitive alternative with expanded runways for growth becomes ever-more clear with each passing quarter. In 2016, company comparable-store sales rose 4.2%, and our two-year comps were up 7.2%. What’s more, we again took market share in 2016 as our company comps outperformed the Black Box all-industry composite by 530 basis points. "

For financial year 2017, Panera Bread Co projects revenue to grow in the range of 3.50 percent to 4.50 percent. The company forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $7.45 to $7.70 on adjusted basis.