** Shares of restaurant chain Bloomin' Brands BLMN.O up
~4% at $25.80 premarket
** Co forecasts full-year U.S. comparable sales and profit
above Wall Street estimates on steady demand for its offerings
and significant improvement in Brazil business
** Expects full-year U.S. comparable sales to rise between
2% and 4%, while analysts expect an increase of 2.3%
** BLMN sees annual adjusted profit per share of $2.91 to
$3.00, compared to analysts' estimates of $2.70, per Refinitiv
IBES data
** Co posts Q4 adjusted profit of 68 cents per share,
beating analysts' estimate of 64 cents
** BLMN's Q4 revenue rose 4.6% to $1.10 bln, below estimates
of $1.12 bln
** Up to Wednesday's close, stock had risen ~9% in the past
12 months
(Reporting by Anne Florentyna Gnanaraja Sekar in Bengaluru)
((AnneFlorentyna.GnanarajaSekar@thomsonreuters.com;))