Cracker Barrel stock rallies after big profit beat, dividend restarted Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. jumped 1.9% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the restaurant and retail company reported a big fiscal third-quarter profit beat and restarted its dividend program, with a $1.00 per share quarterly payout. The company swung to net income of $33.5 million, or $1.41 a share, for the quarter to April 30, from a loss of $161.9 million, or $6.81 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.51, or nearly four times the FactSet consensus of 39 cents. Total revenue increased 65% to $713.4 million, beating the FactSet consensus of $675.6 million. Same-restaurant sales from 56.5% from a year ago, beating the FactSet consensus for a 55.0% rise, while same-store retail sales jumped 102.8% to beat expectations of 68.3% growth. “The pace of our sales and margin recovery in the quarter exceeded expectations as we welcomed guests back into our dining rooms and our off-premise business remained strong,” said Chief Executive Sandra Cochran. The company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of $1.00 a share on Aug. 6 to shareholders of record on July 16. The last time Cracker Barrel paid a dividend was $1.30 a share in August 2020. For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue to be flat with 2019 results, while the FactSet consensus of $784 million implies a 0.4% decline. The company also sees commodity inflation of about 5.0% and wage inflation of between 3.0% to 3.5%. The stock has run up 22.0% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 11.7%.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.