Shares of Sonic Corp. (SONC) have surged nearly 15% so far today after reporting fiscal third-quarter results yesterday that topped Wall Street expectations.

The drive-in restaurant chain said adjusted earnings came in at 24 cents per share, which was down from a year ago but beat the consensus forecast of 21 cents by more than 14%.

Revenue fell 10% to $191.9 million as recession-weary consumers preferred to eat more at home instead of going to restaurants.

Same-store sales slipped 5%, while same-store sales at partner drive-ins, in which the company has majority interest, dropped 8%.

Sonic also said that it opened 34 drive-ins during the quarter, including 32 franchise drive-ins. The company expects to open about 130 to 135 drive-ins during the current fiscal year.

The consensus estimate for the fiscal year ending August 2009 has dipped 2 cents, or 3%, over the past month to 66 cents per share, as 5 of 17 covering analysts lowered expectations.

SONC, a Zacks #3 Rank (”Hold”) stock, is trading on unusually high volume of approximately 2.6 million, against the average daily volume of about 806,000.

“SONC” Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
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