Sweetgreen Inc.’s shares shot up nearly 20% in after-hours trading on March 3, following fourth-quarter results that beat the Wall Street estimates. The Jefferson Park-based salad and grain bowl restaurant chain posted $96.4 million in revenue for the quarter that ended Dec. 26, a 63% increase from the year-ago period. It also widened its net losses from $41.1 million to $66.2 million, or $1.14 per share, partially due to a $21.5 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses, according to the company. Analysts anticipated a net loss of 66 cents per share on $84.7 million in revenue.

“Our fourth-quarter results demonstrate continued recovery from the pandemic,” Chief Financial Officer Mitch Reback said in a statement. “We showed meaningful operating leverage as we experienced revenue growth, narrowed our operating loss, improved restaurant-level margins and leverage in our (general and administrative expenses), excluding stock-based compensation and non-recurring items. As we enter 2022, we are well positioned to make further progress towards our financial goals that prioritize unit growth and profitability.”

Sweetgreen’s full-year sales were totaled $339.9 million, a 54% increase from $220.6 million the restaurant chain posted in the prior fiscal year.
Net loss for the year was $153.2 million, an 8.5% increase from $141.2 million the company recorded in 2020.

For 2022, Sweetgreen’s management anticipates revenue ranging from $515 million to $535 million and opening 35 new restaurants, “assuming no additional Covid-19 headwinds.”

Sweetgreen debuted in 2007 when college friends Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru and Jonathan Neman opened a small eatery near Georgetown University’s campus. By the time they moved the company’s headquarters to the L.A. area in 2016, they had 39 locations.

The restaurant chain, which now has 5,396 employees, is on schedule to move its headquarters this year to Exposition 3, a 94,000-square-foot creative office property in West Adams.

Sweetgreen has raised about $670 million in venture capital funding to date, including a $156 million round in January 2021 led by Chevy Chase, Md.-based Durable Capital Partners and a $150 million round in September 2019 led by New York City-based D1 Capital Partners and Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. Jammet, Ru and Neman hold approximately 59.6% of the voting power of company’s outstanding capital stock.