Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) released its first-quarter financial results Wednesday after the markets close. The company had $0.24 in earnings per share (EPS) on $132.5 million in revenue. That compared to consensus estimates of $0.22 in EPS on $135.3 in revenue.

Revenues increased 9% to the current level from first quarter from last year of $121.6 million. Operating income rose 6.8% to $17.3 million. EPS rose by 5% to the current level from $0.23 in the same period of the previous year.

For the full year, the company expects adjusted net income for fiscal 2016 to be between $55 million and $59 million, or $0.80 and $0.85 per share. This outlook reflects assumptions that Krispy Kreme will open 10 to 12 net new company shops, 15 to 20 net new domestic franchise shops and 95 to 110 net new international franchise shops. There are consensus estimates of $0.84 in EPS and $550.38 million in revenue.

During this quarter, the company repurchased 391,300 shares of its common stock under the current authorization for a total cost of $7.4 million.

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Tony Thompson, president and CEO of Krispy Kreme commented on the earnings:

Solid domestic same store sales growth and improved margin performance at our Company shops enabled us to exceed our internal projections for the first quarter, providing us a strong start to the fiscal year. Guests continued to respond favorably to our limited time offerings. This, combined with our more strategic use of promotional incentives, drove the higher profitability.

Thompson continued:

We continue to generate momentum in our franchise business, partnering with new and existing franchisees to spread the joy of Krispy Kreme within the US and throughout the world. We recently signed development agreements for new domestic shops in Arkansas, Montana, Illinois and Kentucky, while internationally we signed agreements in Cambodia, Guatemala, and South Africa as part of our goal to enter a total of six new countries this year. We continue to believe that Krispy Kreme is positioned well for earnings and cash flow growth and our intention is to return a portion of that to shareholders through on-going share repurchases.

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The company had cash and cash equivalents of $58.6 million at the end of the first quarter, up from 51.0 million last February.

Shares of Krispy Kreme were up about 15% at $20.01 in Thursday morning trading. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $25.33 and a 52-week trading range of $14.82 to $22.32.

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