CKE Net Income Rises 69%

CKE Restaurants Inc., the Carpinteria, Calif.-based parent of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurant chains, said Tuesday that quarterly earnings rose 69% because of increased sales and lower costs on food and packaging.

Net income for the fiscal second quarter was $14.2 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with $8.4 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.5% to $376 million.

Wall Street analysts, on average, had been expecting earnings of 19 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

This year’s quarter included a $3.6-million charge for the conversion of a portion of the company’s convertible notes into common stock.

Same-store sales, a key retail measure that tracks sales at restaurants open at least 13 months, rose 4.8% at CKE’s Carl’s Jr. chain. Same-store sales rose 3% at Hardee’s.

Both Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s have benefited from a strategy of marketing oversized, higher-priced hamburgers to young men.

During the quarter, Carl’s Jr. promoted a Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich and Hardee’s featured its Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger.

CKE shares rose 26 cents to $16.64. The company reported earnings after the close of trading.