Doughnut chain Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ: DNUT) will be announcing earnings results this Thursday before market hours. Here’s what to expect.

Krispy Kreme missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $375.2 million, down 15.3% year on year. It was a softer quarter for the company, with a significant miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and EBITDA guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly.

Is Krispy Kreme a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Krispy Kreme’s revenue to decline 13.9% year on year to $377.7 million, a reversal from the 7.3% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted loss is expected to come in at -$0.03 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Krispy Kreme has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates five times over the last two years.

Looking at Krispy Kreme’s peers in the traditional fast food segment, some have already reported their Q2 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. El Pollo Loco delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 3%, beating analysts’ expectations by 0.6%, and Domino's reported revenues up 4.3%, in line with consensus estimates. El Pollo Loco traded up 1.4% following the results while Domino's was also up 3%.

Read our full analysis of El Pollo Loco’s results here and Domino’s results here.

The outlook for 2025 remains clouded by potential trade policy changes and corporate tax discussions, which could impact business confidence and growth. While some of the traditional fast food stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 8.1% on average over the last month. Krispy Kreme is up 16.8% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $5.23 (compared to the current share price of $3.66).

Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.