Restaurant Stock Winners, Losers: Panera

NEW YORK, N.Y. (TheStreet) -- Panera Bread(PNRA) and Buffalo Wild Wings(BWLD) posted strong quarterly financials after the closing bell Tuesday. Both restaurant chains beat top- and bottom-line expectations -- although a closer look at the all-important same-store sales metric delivered a mixed plate of winners and losers.

Panera Bread's system-wide comparable same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least one year, grew 9.9% in the second quarter, year-over-year. The figure topped analysts' expectations for growth of 9%, and by the comps metric even outpaced sector leader Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG), which last week said its quarterly comps grew 8.7% year-over-year.

>> Chipotle Leading the Pack

Buffalo Wild Wings, meanwhile, said its comps actually decreased 0.1% at company-owned restaurants last quarter, and 0.7% at franchised locations.

Earlier Tuesday, pizza purveyor Domino's Pizza(DPZ) disappointed investors with comps growth of 8.8%. Analysts had expected the key metric to come in around 10%.

>> Domino's Comps Not Tasty Enough

With the economy still very much in recovery mode and the jobs market stubbornly weak, consumers continue to be choosy about how they spend their limited discretionary funds. For fast food and fast-casual restaurant chains, that means the competition is stiffer than ever.