Wingstop Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the chicken wing chain topped Wall Street estimates and said it would start paying a dividend. Wingstop shares rose 7% to $32.35 after hours. The company reported second-quarter net income of $5.3 million, or 18 cents a share, compared to $4.1 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $24.7 million from $22.7 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated earnings of 15 cents a share on revenue of $24.7 million. For the year, Wingstop estimates earnings growth of 23% to 25%, up from a previous forecast of 19% to 21% growth, for an outlook of about 71 cents to 73 cents a share. Analysts had forecast 70 cents a share. Separately, Wingstop said Michael Skipworth will become chief financial officer after having served in an interim role, and initiated a quarterly dividend of 7 cents a share to be paid Sept. 18 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 3.
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