Shake Shack Reports Loss Due to $1.1M IPO Charge

Shake Shack Inc (NYSE:SHAK) forecast slowing same-restaurant sales growth in 2015 and swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, helping to send the hamburger chain's shares down as much as 9 percent after its first quarterly report as a public company.

New York City-based Shake Shack began as a hotdog cart in New York's Madison Square Park and amassed a near cult following for its rich milkshakes, crinkle fries and hormone- and antibiotic-free burgers.

The company's shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in January at more than twice their offered price of $21, buoyed by growth-hungry investors hoping to replicate the red-hot run of industry darling Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc <CMG.N>.

Sales at Shacks open at least two years grew 4.1 percent in the year ended Dec. 31, down from 5.9 percent a year earlier, the company said.

The company said it expected same-restaurant sales to grow in the low single digits in 2015.

Same-restaurant sales rose 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of 4 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

The company swung to a loss of $1.4 million, or 5 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from a profit of $997,000, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.

Shake Shack attributed the loss to a $1.1 million after-tax charge related to its IPO.

Revenue rose 51.5 percent to $34.8 million.

Shake Shack shares were down 6.2 percent at $43.99 in after-market trading on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ramkumar Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Jennings)