Shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ: BJRI) climbed as much as 12% early Friday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, before settling to trade up 9% as of 1 p.m. ET after the restaurant chain announced stronger-than-expected second-quarter 2023 results.

BJ's quarterly revenue climbed 6.1% year over year to $349.7 million -- roughly in line with expectations -- helped by a 1.3% increase in total restaurant opening weeks and a 4.7% boost in comparable restaurant sales. On the bottom line, net income soared to $11.9 million, or $0.50 per share, up from $0.3 million, or $0.01 per share in the same year-ago period and well above the $0.33 per share most analysts were modeling.

Digging deeper into BJ's results, restaurant-level operating margin improved 260 basis points year over year to a healthy 14.5%, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew 35.9% to $31.8 million.

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Source Fool.com