Piper Jaffray: OpenTable Saw Healthy Diner Trends in February

In a research report published earlier today by Piper Jaffray, OpenTable Inc.

is slowly recovering, as is the restaurant industry as a whole, from the recession. According to Piper Jaffray, “We further believe OpenTable's seated diner growth is correlated to overall industry health and expect OpenTable's seated diner trends to benefit from both cyclical and secular tailwinds. February data indicates a continuation of healthy diner trends, which contradicts consensus models for a material deceleration during 2012. Negatively, our restaurant customer counting through 3/19 indicates modestly weaker subscriber acquisition during Q1 vs. our estimates. Nevertheless, seated diner growth is key metric in the model and we remain Overweight rated. Our $62 price target is based on 30x CY13 EPS of $2.05.” Piper Jaffray maintains its Overweight rating on OpenTable, which closed yesterday at $41.25.