: Kura Sushi stock soars toward a record, after profit surprisingly increased and beat expectations by a wide margin

Shares of Kura Sushi USA Inc. KRUS shot up 17.4% toward a record high in afternoon trading Friday, after the Japanese restaurant chain reported a fiscal third-quarter profit that more than tripled and beat expectations by a wide margin. The California-based company, which went public in August 2019, reported late Thursday net income for the quarter to May 31 that rose to $1.68 million, or 16 cents a share, from $477 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year ago period. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share to decline to 4 cents. Sales rose 29.7% to $49.2 million, just below the FactSet consensus of $49.6 million, while same-store sales growth of 10.3% beat expectations of a 7.9% rise. No less than 5 of the seven analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover Kura Sushi raised their stock price targets after the results, with the average target rising to $97.83 from $82.00 at the end of June. The stock has more than doubled year to date, up 110.0%, while the S&P 500 SPX has advanced 15.3%.

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