As May Travel Trends Show Improvement, Piper Jaffray Recommends Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, Ruth's Hospitality Group, and Morton's Restaurant Group
June 10, 2011 8:08 AM
With improving travel data, Piper Jaffray is recommending Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBRG), Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc. (NASDAQ: RUTH), and Morton's Restaurant Group Inc. (NYSE: MRT).
“Travel data showed continued improvement in May, which we highlight as a positive update for those concepts benefiting from, and exposed to, our ‘high-end' consumer recovery thesis,” Piper Jaffray writes.
“Steadily improving, highly-correlated industry metrics, such as hotel RevPAR, remain in positive territory with 8.0% y/y growth in May, and luxury hotel RevPAR at 11.0% y/y which again outpaced overall RevPAR.
“We believe these results suggest that recent strength in same-store sales for our higher-end covered restaurant names may have continued into 2Q11. We view exposure to MRT, RUTH, and BBRG shares as the best way to capitalize on improving travel trends.”
Bravo Brio Restaurant Group closed Thursday at $21.79; Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc. closed at $5.25; and Morton's Restaurant Group closed at $7.28.
