Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call November 5, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kyle Nelsen – Vice President, Investor Relations
Michael Osanloo – President and Chief Executive Officer
Michelle Hook – Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Sharon Zackfia - William Blair
David Tarantino – Baird
Jim Salera – Stephens Inc.
Brian Harbour – Morgan Stanley
Chris O’Cull – Stifel
Brian Mullan – Piper Sandler
Sara Senatore – Bank of America
Gregory Francfort – Guggenheim Partners

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Portillo’s Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Kyle Nelsen, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kyle Nelsen

Thank you, operator. Good morning everyone, and welcome to our fiscal third quarter 2024 earnings call. You can find our 10-Q, earnings press release and supplemental presentation on investors.portillos.com.

With me on the call today is Michael Osanloo, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Michelle Hook, Chief Financial Officer. Any commentary made here about our future results and business conditions are forward-looking statements, which are based on management’s current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. We do not update these forward-looking statements unless required by law. Our 10-K identifies risk factors that may cause our actual results to vary materially from these forward-looking statements.

Today’s earnings call will make reference to non-GAAP financial measures, which are not an alternative to GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most comparable GAAP counterparts are included in this morning’s posted materials.

Finally, after we deliver our prepared remarks, we will open the lines for your questions.

Now let me turn the call over to Michael Osanloo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Portillo’s.

Michael Osanloo

Thank you, Kyle, and good morning everyone, and thanks for joining today’s call. We grew the top line by 7% as we continued expanding in Texas and Sun Belt. We sustained margins and our earnings engine remained strong, but like others in the industry we are up against macroeconomic headwinds and the price wars in quick service, fast casual and even casual dining are very real. Q3 comp sales growth was challenged by this rampant discounting and Portillo’s does not play the discount game. We compete on great everyday pricing for our craveable food and abundant portions and we know this approach will benefit us in the medium and long term.