Sonic Corp. (Nasdaq:SONC) CEO Cliff Hudson said the struggling restaurant operator is not providing a more conservative outlook to investors because the company is changing management, has a higher energy focus at the market level and a renewed focus on customer service and store-level performance. Hudson made the comments during a morning conference call with analysts and investors.

“With the personnel issues we’re talking about — the change — and the level of focus at the unit level, we should start seeing an impact at a relatively quick fashion in one degree or another,” Hudson said. “This is part of what gives us some optimism and there are signs already of a positive impact. We’ll continue to measure that and report on it over time but the fact is that we’re already seeing some positive impact.”

Sonic said late Tuesday that it expects 2008 earnings of between $1.00 and $1.02 per share, which is lower than Wall Street’s expectation of earning $1.05 per share.

“We are currently working through our annual business plan process and anticipate providing our fiscal year 2009 outlook in early September,” CFO Steve Vaughan said.

The Oklahoma City-based company also said it anticipates same-store sales, or sales at stores at least a year, to grow in a range of 2% to 4%.

After Tuesday’s close, Sonic posted third-quarter net income of $17.2 million, or $0.28 per share, down 17% from $20.6 million, or $0.31 per share, a year ago. The results widely missed Wall Street’s expectation of earning $0.38 per share.

Quarterly revenue increased 1% to $213 million from $209.9 million a year earlier. Wall Street analysts, on average, projected revenue of $240.3 million.

On Wednesday morning before Sonic’s conference call, investment bank RBC Capital Markets reduced its price target for Sonic to $17 from $21 but maintained its “sector perform” rating. In a research note, RBC analysts noted that Sonic has not been successful in reaching its growth target of 18% for the last three years.

President Scott McLain said Sonic plans to open between 215 and 220 new franchise drive-in locations this year, with about 70 new locations being relocations of old restaurants. In total, the new store activity is about a 20% increase over the activity in 2007, McLain said.

Vaughn said the firm has $37 million under its revolving credit facility and expects that cash flow will provide additional capital. The firm expects to use its credit facility and cash flow opportunistically for acquisitions and share repurchases, he said. Sonic has $10.4 million left in its share repurchase program, he said.

“While we are disappointed with our recent stock price performance, we continue to believe that the share repurchases we have made over the last two years will prove to be a good, long-term investment,” Vaughan said.

In Wednesday afternoon trading, SONC is slumping 12.42% to a three-year low of $14.47.