Why European Wax Center Stock Crushed the Market on Wednesday

Wax is an inexpensive material, but it sure can make investors plenty of coin some days. On Wednesday, hair removal specialist European Wax Center's (NASDAQ: EWCZ) stock rose by a very robust 21% in price thanks to encouraging quarterly results. That performance well eclipsed the 0.1% increase of the bellwether S&P 500 index.

A solid bottom-line beat

That morning, European Wax Center unveiled its first-quarter figures, which showed that total revenue for the company was $51.4 million. That was on the back of a 1% bump in the tally of net new stores to a total of 1,062 at quarter end. Although that top-line number represented a slight (0.9%) year-over-year decrease, it topped the consensus prognosticator estimate of $49.4 million.

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The bottom-line result looked better, as non-GAAP (adjusted) net income went in the opposite direction with a more than 10% rise to $9.5 million. On a per-share basis, the $0.22 European Wax Center earned was far above the $0.05 average estimate by analysts following the stock.

In its earnings release, the company attributed the progress it has made to technology and to internal research efforts. It quoted CEO Chris Morris as saying that "We continue to advance our enhanced, data-rich marketing engine, and guest research is generating valuable insights that will shape our traffic-driving strategies."

Existing guidance reaffirmed

In the earnings release, European Wax Center reiterated its existing guidance for the entirety of 2025. The company continues to believe it will earn total revenue of $210 million to $214 million, and adjusted net income will land at $31 million to $33 million.

This business is managing to squeeze out higher bottom-line growth, which is admirable. On the downside, personally, I don't see a great take-up of waxing services by the public, and therefore, I think long-term growth potential is limited. Despite the huge share-price leap on Wednesday, I wouldn't get overly excited about this stock.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.