Despite a net loss and a double-digit same-store sales decline in its first quarter, McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants Inc. upgraded Wednesday its full-year outlook as the company expects to gain traction with cost-cutting initiatives and tax benefits later this year.

The National Restaurant Association’s restaurant performance index rose for the third consecutive month in March, as the measure of operators’ outlook for the economy over the next six months hits its highest level in more than a year.