Wingstop (WING) Earnings: Q3 Fiscal 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 26, 2026 and Wingstop published the results on October 28, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 fiscal 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Wingstop reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Wingstop's fiscal quarters are 13 weeks long. Q3 fiscal 2026 ended September 26, 2026 and Q3 fiscal 2025 ended September 27, 2025.
• Advertising fees are restaurant contributions to Wingstop's national ad fund. Wingstop records the fund's spending as advertising expenses: $67.7 million in the quarter, against $64.1 million of advertising fees.

Source: Wingstop fiscal Q3 2026 results, October 28, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 26, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Wingstop splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 fiscal 2026 against Q3 fiscal 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Wingstop's Royalty revenue, franchise fees and other revenue was $86.3 million in Q3 fiscal 2026, up 6% from $81.2 million in Q3 fiscal 2025, 47% of total revenue.
• Wingstop's Advertising fees revenue was $64.1 million in Q3 fiscal 2026, up 3% from $62.0 million in Q3 fiscal 2025, 35% of total revenue.
• Wingstop's Company-owned restaurant sales revenue was $34.8 million in Q3 fiscal 2026, up 7% from $32.5 million in Q3 fiscal 2025, 19% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Wingstop said:

“A decline of approximately 6.5% to 7% in domestic same store sales growth;”

“Global net new units of 440 to 450, or 14.4% to 14.7% unit growth;”

“SG&A of between $138-$140 million, which includes $3 million of restructuring charges related to corporate realignment;”

“Interest expense, net of approximately $41 million.”

Source: Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 28, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the WING forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP total revenue and diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Wingstop's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 fiscal 2026 (this page), reported Oct 28, 2026

Wingstop is mostly a franchisor, and its $185.1 million of Q3 fiscal 2026 revenue has three parts: royalty revenue, franchise fees and other of $86.3 million, advertising fees of $64.1 million, and $34.8 million of sales at its own restaurants. Franchisees ran 2,716 of the 2,787 US restaurants and all 544 international ones, out of 3,331 system-wide. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Wingstop's 10-K says the standard franchise agreement requires a royalty of 6.0% of gross sales net of discounts, a contribution of 5.5% of gross sales to the national ad fund (up from 5.3%), and a franchise fee of $20,000 for each restaurant opened. Revenue therefore tracks system-wide sales, which rose 6.0% to $1,437 million in the quarter. (Wingstop Form 10-K, fiscal 2025, Feb 18, 2026; Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

In Wingstop's royalty line, new restaurants added more than existing ones lost. Royalty revenue, franchise fees and other rose $5.1 million: $8.6 million came from net new franchise development, offset by a $3.6 million decrease from a 5.4% decline in domestic same store sales, which Wingstop put down to lower transaction volumes and continued pressure on consumer spending. Domestic AUV fell to $1.8 million from $2.1 million. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Company-owned restaurant sales rose $2.2 million, mainly from sixteen corporate stores opened or acquired since Q3 fiscal 2025, thirteen of them bought from franchisees during the quarter. Company-owned same store sales fell 2.7%. Digital sales were 73.7% of system-wide sales. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Wingstop earned $29.1 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, in Q3 fiscal 2026, up from $1.02. Adjusted EPS was $1.08 against $1.09 a year earlier. The gap between the two lines was small this quarter: Wingstop's adjustments were $311 thousand of amortization of capitalized system implementation costs, less tax, while the year-ago quarter also excluded $2.1 million of system implementation costs. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Costs at Wingstop's own restaurants rose faster than their sales. Cost of sales was 78.2% of company-owned restaurant sales, up from 74.8%, which Wingstop attributed to higher food, beverage and packaging costs related to fries and packaging, higher rent and maintenance, and labor at acquired restaurants. Depreciation and amortization rose to $9.0 million from $6.2 million because of technology investments, and SG&A fell slightly to $30.5 million, helped by $2.0 million less stock compensation from forfeitures. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Wingstop's effective tax rate was 27.3%, against 28.1% a year earlier. Diluted weighted average shares fell to 27,137 thousand from 27,991 thousand. Wingstop repurchased 190,688 shares at an average of $131.12 in the quarter, had $288.4 million left under its buyback program, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Wingstop updates its fiscal 2026 outlook in each release, and the outlook covers operating drivers, not revenue or EPS. With Q3 it guided to a decline of approximately 6.5% to 7% in domestic same store sales, global net new units of 440 to 450 (14.4% to 14.7% unit growth), SG&A of $138 to $140 million including $3 million of restructuring charges for a corporate realignment, stock-based compensation of about $21 million, depreciation and amortization of about $35 million and net interest expense of about $41 million. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

In the release, Wingstop's chief executive Michael Skipworth said the company was not satisfied with its third quarter results and that the improvement in sales performance is taking time. (Wingstop Q3 fiscal 2026 release, Oct 28, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Wingstop, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Wingstop's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 fiscal 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning WING is on is WING a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the WING forecast, and what the company does is on the Wingstop (WING) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Wingstop published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.