Can Wingstop ($WING) be stopped?
Not if its share prices - or, its alternative data, is to be believed.
The Dallas-based purveyor of delectable fried chicken flavors has been on a tear just about everywhere you look - and if the alternative data is to be believed, Wingstop could keep flying after it reports earnings Thursday August 1. Analysts tracked by Zacks Investment Research are looking for EPS $0.18 when the company reveals earnings results.
Wingstop web traffic was white-hot to start 2019 - and, provided this level of consumer engagement grows, the company should have no trouble coming earnings time.
Next up - Wingstop store count. It's only a marginal increase for the most recent completed quarter, but Wingstop is still a company in growth mode. Investors have taken note, making its stock one of the hottest buys of 2019, and shares are up about 60% with earnings on the way.
What happens, when you've got growing web traffic, and rising store count? Perhaps inevitably: your Facebook ($FB) Were Here Count - or a metric that follows how often consumers make a geo-tagged social posting from a given brand or location - also rises.
Last but not least - tracking some critical external data, which we recently saw propel a very different kind of restaurant to a first quarter beat. The price of chicken - possibly the company's biggest potential pain point from an exposure standpoint - has been flat to start the year, according to USDA figures.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- Apple doubled design team staffing plans in anticipation of life without Jony
- Takeaway.com's merger with Just Eat quintuples its distribution footprint
- Cheesecake Factory desserts are delicious - but its alternative data may not be