Potbelly Corporation (PBPB) has reported 58.38 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 25, 2016. The company has earned $1.96 million, or $0.08 a share in the quarter, compared with $1.24 million, or $0.05 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $3.77 million, or $0.15 a share compared with $2.29 million or $0.08 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 7.64 percent to $102.36 million from $95.09 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 53 basis points over the previous year period to 59.75 percent. Total expenses were 97.29 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 97.88 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 58 basis points in operating margin to 2.71 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $2.77 million, compared with $2.02 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $13.40 million compared with $10.81 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 172 basis points in the quarter to 13.09 percent from 11.37 percent in the last year period.

Aylwin Lewis, chairman and chief executive officer of Potbelly Corporation commented, "During the fourth quarter, we delivered revenue growth of 8% and adjusted net income growth of 65%. For the full year, we achieved revenue growth of 9% and adjusted net income growth of 44%. Given the challenging operating environment, our full year comparable store sales growth of 1.4% fell short of our original expectations. However, we are proud of the combined effort of the men and women across the Potbelly Nation, which allowed us to deliver on our revised sales growth outlook, while protecting margins and growing earnings."

For fiscal year 2017, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.45 to $0.47 on adjusted basis.