Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) soared over 54% in the first half of 2023, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Mexican food chain that defined the fast-casual category posted another burst of strong earnings growth in the first half of 2023 and seems to benefit from cooling food and wage inflation. Shares of the stock are now up over 4,500% since going public in the early 2000s.

Chipotle stock is also getting a boost from broad market returns so far in 2023. The S 500 -- as of this writing on July 10 -- is up 15.3% year-to-date (YTD).

In its Q1 earnings report covering the first three months of 2023, Chipotle showed strong growth as we continue to recover from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue grew 17% year over year to reach $2.4 billion, driven primarily by same-store sales growth of 10.9%. Same-store sales are defined as revenue growth from already opened restaurants and mean that Chipotle would have grown revenue by more than 10% even if it didn't open any new locations.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com