After a controversy-filled year, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is getting a significant stock market boost on Wednesday following a positive earnings report for its 2026 fiscal third quarter.
As of midday trading on Wednesday, shares were surging nearly 30%, hitting levels not seen since September 2025.
The Southern country-themed restaurant chain reported a total revenue decrease of 2.9%, hitting $797.4 million. However, this topped a Wall Street consensus estimate of $776.7 million, as cited by Barron’s.
Comparable store restaurant sales decreased 2.6%, and comparable store retail sales decreased 1.8%. Net income reached $42.8 million, tripling last year’s amount.
While analysts anticipated seeing a loss per share, Cracker Barrel actually saw a profit. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings per diluted share were $1.90. The adjusted earnings per diluted share were 29 cents.
Perhaps most exciting to investors, Cracker Barrel increased its outlook for fiscal 2026, saying it now expects revenue of up to $3.3 billion, versus an earlier estimate of up to $3.27 billion.
The results are noteworthy after a tough year.
In August 2025, Cracker Barrel received significant backlash over an attempted rebrand. It announced that its classic logo—featuring an “Old Timer” sitting in a chair and leaning against a barrel—would change to a more modern-looking symbol with only the brand name.
Following the backlash and protracted calls (driven by conservative influencers) for the brand to embrace its nostalgic roots, the new logo was scrapped after about a week.
Tuesday’s earnings report may indicate that Cracker Barrel has finally put the incident behind it. With today’s increase in shares, Cracker Barrel stock (Nasdaq: CBRL) is up more than 67% year to date.
